EnrollmentReportingGuide2021FINAL

National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)

EnrollmentReportingGuide2021FINAL

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NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide

What’s New?
September
2021

Section 2.2 – Additional Guidance
•

Added Electronic Announcements June 11, 2021 and June 15,
2021

Section 2.4 - 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit
•

Added information regarding SULA repeal

Section 4.4.3 – Withdrawal versus Graduation and Effective Dates
•

Added guidance regarding students enrolled in modules

Section 7.7.2.8- Subsidized Usage
•

Added information regarding SULA repeal

Section 7.7.2.9 – Maximum Eligibility Timeline
•

Added information regarding SULA repeal.

Section 7.11.1.5– Ad Hoc Roster Request
•

Added information regarding the National Student
Clearinghouse Ad Hoc Roster Request

Section 7.13.4.8– Ad Hoc Reporting
•

September 2021

Added information regarding the National Student
Clearinghouse’s Ad Hoc Roster Request

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Table of Contents
What’s New? .................................................................................................................. ii
Introduction ........................................................................................ 1
1.1

Why Report? ...................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2

Who to Report? ................................................................................................................................ 1

1.3

What to Report?............................................................................................................................... 2

1.4

When to Report?.............................................................................................................................. 2

1.5

Ways to Report ................................................................................................................................. 2

1.6

How to Report? ................................................................................................................................ 2

1.7

Monitoring of Reporting Compliance ...................................................................................... 3
Why Report? ....................................................................................... 4

2.1

Federal Regulations ........................................................................................................................ 4

2.2

Additional Guidance ....................................................................................................................... 5

2.3

The Importance of Accurate, Timely, and Complete Enrollment Data......................... 7

2.4

150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit........................................................................................... 7
Who to Report?................................................................................. 10

3.1

Which Schools Should Report Enrollment Information? ................................................ 10

3.2

Types of Students to be Reported .......................................................................................... 10
Visiting, Transient, or Consortium Students ........................................................................ 11

3.3

Schools Who Use an Enrollment Reporting Servicer ........................................................ 11

3.4

Listing an Enrollment Reporting Contact.............................................................................. 13
What to Report?................................................................................ 16

4.1

Campus/Location........................................................................................................................... 16

4.2

Programs .......................................................................................................................................... 16
Unique Program............................................................................................................................. 17

4.3

What Information Needs to be Reported?........................................................................... 18
Campus-Level Enrollment Data ................................................................................................ 18
Program-Level Enrollment Data ............................................................................................... 19

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Email Address Data ....................................................................................................................... 19
Program Identifier Changes....................................................................................................... 19
4.4

How to Report Specific Fields ................................................................................................... 19
Program Indicator (Campus-Level Record) .......................................................................... 20
Effective Dates, Certification Dates and Received Dates................................................. 20
Withdrawal versus Graduation and Effective Dates .......................................................... 22
Reporting Graduation and Anticipated Completion Dates ............................................ 24
Continuous Enrollment (Campus- and Program-Level Record) ................................... 24
Published Program Length and Associated Fields (Program-Level Record)............ 26
Credential Level (Program-Level Record) ............................................................................. 29
Program Begin Date (Program-Level Record) .................................................................... 32
Special Program Indicator (Program-Level Record) ......................................................... 32
Enrollment Statuses (Campus- and Program-Level Record) ......................................... 33
CIP Year - Auto-Conversion (Program-Level Record) ...................................................... 35
Program Identifier Changes (Program Identifier Change Record) .............................. 37
Reporting Information to the COD System and NSLDS .................................................. 39
When to Report?............................................................................... 41

5.1

Reporting Timely ........................................................................................................................... 41

5.2

Special Situations........................................................................................................................... 43
Waiver Process ............................................................................................................................... 43
Change in School Eligibility ....................................................................................................... 43
Ways to Report ................................................................................. 48

6.1

Enrollment Reporting Online .................................................................................................... 48
Enrollment Update ........................................................................................................................ 48
Enrollment Maintenance ............................................................................................................. 48
Enrollment History Update ........................................................................................................ 48
Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal ......................................................................................... 49

6.2

Enrollment Reporting Batch Process ...................................................................................... 49
Batch File Types.............................................................................................................................. 50

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6.3

Enrollment Supplemental Submittal File............................................................................... 56
How to Report? ................................................................................. 58

7.1

Reporting Online ........................................................................................................................... 58

7.2

How to Sign Up .............................................................................................................................. 58
Enrollment Reporting Process .................................................................................................. 60

7.3

Listing an Enrollment Reporting Contact.............................................................................. 62

7.4

Navigating NSLDSFAP ................................................................................................................. 62

7.5

Using NSLDSFAP Online ............................................................................................................. 65

7.6

Enrollment Reporting ................................................................................................................... 66

7.7

Enrollment Reporting Online .................................................................................................... 69
NSLDSFAP Website Enrollment Reporting Key Pages ..................................................... 69
Viewing Enrollment Data for a Student ................................................................................. 71

7.8

Updating Student Enrollment Data ........................................................................................ 99
Getting Started: The Enrollment Update Page .................................................................100
Retrieving All Your School’s Enrollment Records ............................................................102
Retrieving Student Records to Update ................................................................................104
Going Further: Using the Advanced Search Options......................................................105
Updating Selected Enrollment Records ..............................................................................110
Confirming Enrollment Information .....................................................................................115
Enrollment Maintenance: What Happens If…....................................................................117

7.9

Updating Historical Enrollment Data ...................................................................................123
Getting Started: The Enrollment History Update Page ..................................................123
Retrieving Your Student’s Historical Enrollment Records .............................................124
Understanding Historical Enrollment Records ..................................................................127
Updating Historical Enrollment Records .............................................................................129
Going Further: Program Identifier Changes.......................................................................133

7.10

Student Contact Information ..................................................................................................136

7.11

Enrollment Reporting Profile ...................................................................................................138
The Enrollment Reporting Profile Page ...............................................................................138

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7.12

Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal .......................................................................................157
Process Overview .........................................................................................................................157
Spreadsheet Creation.................................................................................................................158
Data Entry .......................................................................................................................................161
Formatting .....................................................................................................................................163
Updating a Roster .......................................................................................................................164
Uploading an Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal File ...................................................166
Working Errors..............................................................................................................................170

7.13

Enrollment Reporting by Batch ..............................................................................................171
Batch Enrollment Data Transmission: The Basics .............................................................171
Identifying Your File Type.........................................................................................................172
Adding Students to the Roster ...............................................................................................175
Processing Enrollment Rosters ...............................................................................................177

7.14

Common Reporting Errors .......................................................................................................182
Improper reporting of Program Enrollment Effective Date .........................................182
Improper Reporting of the “Move To” ................................................................................183
Improper Reporting of Published Program Length (PPL) .............................................183
Improper Reporting of Program Begin Date .....................................................................184
Improper Enrollment History Corrections ..........................................................................185
Updating NSLDS without Updating your Enrollment Reporting Servicer...............186

7.15

Ways to Improve Enrollment Reporting..............................................................................187
Monitoring of Reporting Compliance ........................................... 189

8.1

Enrollment Reporting Statistics ..............................................................................................189
Enrollment Reporting Statistics Page ...................................................................................190
Certification Statistics.................................................................................................................193
Enrollment Reporting Compliance Notifications .............................................................194

8.2

Late Roster Notification ............................................................................................................196

8.3

Enrollment Submittal Tracking ...............................................................................................197

8.4

Enrollment Certification by Quarter ......................................................................................200

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8.5

Enrollment Reporting User Reports ......................................................................................201
Enrollment Statistics Report ....................................................................................................201
Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup Detail Report...................................................202
Enrollment Reporting Compliance Report .........................................................................204
Enrollment Reporting 2020 Invalid CIP Codes Report ...................................................205
Enrollment Reporting Deleted CIP Code Report .............................................................206
Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report ........................................................................207
Enrollment Errors Report ..........................................................................................................208
Enrollment Reporting Summary Report ..............................................................................209
Enrollment Certification Report..............................................................................................210
Enrollment Reporting Program-Level Certification Report ..........................................211
NSLDS–COD Program Comparison Report........................................................................212
Late Enrollment Certifications Report ..................................................................................214
Enrollment Reporting No Certified Programs Report ....................................................215
Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Campus Report ..................................217
Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Program Report .................................218
Enrollment History Report........................................................................................................220

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Table of Figures
Figure 2-1: Enrollment Reporting Uses ..................................................................................................4
Figure 3-1: Organization Contact Add ................................................................................................ 14
Figure 4-1: CIP Year – Auto Conversion Active and Inactive Records...................................... 36
Figure 4-2: Program Identifier Changes – Current Program ....................................................... 38
Figure 4-3: Program Identifier Changes – New Program ............................................................. 38
Figure 5-1: Enrollment Reporting Cycle .............................................................................................. 42
Figure 6-1: Bundle Format Example ..................................................................................................... 52
Figure 6-2: Student Identifiers ................................................................................................................ 54
Figure 6-3: Enrollment Supplemental Submittal file ...................................................................... 56
Figure 7-1: SAIG Enrollment Site ........................................................................................................... 59
Figure 7-2: Legend of Icons and Symbols .......................................................................................... 64
Figure 7-3: NSLDS Professional Access website after login......................................................... 65
Figure 7-4: NSLDSFAP Menu .................................................................................................................. 66
Figure 7-5: Enrollment Reporting Options......................................................................................... 67
Figure 7-6: Organization Contact List .................................................................................................. 71
Figure 7-7: Enrollment Summary........................................................................................................... 72
Figure 7-8: Enrollment Summary........................................................................................................... 73
Figure 7-9: Enrollment Detail .................................................................................................................. 77
Figure 7-10: Program Enrollment Detail ............................................................................................. 83
Figure 7-11: Program Certification Detail .......................................................................................... 84
Figure 7-12: Enrollment Timeline .......................................................................................................... 91
Figure 7-13: Subsidized Usage ............................................................................................................... 94
Figure 7-14: Maximum Eligibility Timeline ......................................................................................... 98
Figure 7-21: Enrollment Push to Roster .............................................................................................. 99
Figure 7-22: Enrollment Update .......................................................................................................... 101
Figure 7-23: Enrollment Maintenance ............................................................................................... 103
Figure 7-24: Enrollment Update .......................................................................................................... 108
Figure 7-25: Enrollment Maintenance ............................................................................................... 109
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Figure 7-26: Enrollment Maintenance Update ............................................................................... 113
Figure 7-27: Enrollment Maintenance Confirm .............................................................................. 115
Figure 7-28: Enrollment Maintenance - Successfully Updated ................................................ 116
Figure 7-29: Enrollment Maintenance Error Message ................................................................. 119
Figure 7-30: Enrollment Maintenance Add Program/Student.................................................. 121
Figure 7-31: Student Permanent Address in Enrollment Maintenance ................................. 122
Figure 7-32: Enrollment History Update ........................................................................................... 124
Figure 7-33: Enrollment History Update Full Page........................................................................ 126
Figure 7-34 Enrollment History Update Page Successfully Updated ..................................... 131
Figure 7-35: Enrollment History Update Page Error Message .................................................. 132
Figure 7-36: Enrollment History Update Page – Program Identifier Changes .................... 134
Figure 7-37: Student Contact Information ....................................................................................... 136
Figure 7-38: Add/Update Student Contact Information ............................................................. 137
Figure 7-39: Enrollment Reporting Profile – Portfolio Type ...................................................... 140
Figure 7-40: Enrollment Reporting Profile ....................................................................................... 140
Figure 7-41: Enrollment Reporting Profile- Preferences ............................................................. 142
Figure 7-42: Enrollment Reporting Preferences Update ............................................................. 142
Figure 7-43: Enrollment Reporting Preferences – Selection Updated ................................... 143
Figure 7-44: Enrollment Administration............................................................................................ 144
Figure 7-45: Enrollment Administration Update............................................................................ 145
Figure 7-46: Enrollment Reporting Schedule .................................................................................. 147
Figure 7-47: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update .................................................................. 148
Figure 7-48: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Create.................................................................... 149
Figure 7-49: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Create Confirm .................................................. 150
Figure 7-50: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Successfully Created ........................................ 151
Figure 7-51: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update .................................................................. 152
Figure 7-52: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update .................................................................. 153
Figure 7-53: Ad Hoc Roster Request .................................................................................................. 154
Figure 7-54: NSC Ad Hoc Roster Request ........................................................................................ 155
Figure 7-55: Roster Reset ....................................................................................................................... 155
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Figure 7-56: Enrollment Notification Override List ....................................................................... 157
Figure 7-57: Rename Worksheet ......................................................................................................... 159
Figure 7-58: Renamed Worksheet ...................................................................................................... 159
Figure 7-59: Spreadsheet Creation with Field Names ................................................................. 160
Figure 7-60: Spreadsheet Creation with Field Names and Empty Optional Fields ........... 160
Figure 7-61: Spreadsheet Creation without Field Names........................................................... 161
Figure 7-62: Spreadsheet Creation without Field Names and Empty Optional Fields..... 161
Figure 7-63: Spreadsheet Format Example ...................................................................................... 163
Figure 7-64: File Extension Drop-Down Box ................................................................................... 165
Figure 7-65: Enrollment Submittal Page ........................................................................................... 167
Figure 7-66: Results Presentation........................................................................................................ 168
Figure 7-67: Number of Errors Example ........................................................................................... 169
Figure 7-68: Results File with Yellow Highlight and Tool Tip .................................................... 170
Figure 7-69: Results File with Error Column .................................................................................... 171
Figure 7-70: Enrollment Reporting Batch Process Flow .............................................................. 172
Figure 7-71: Student Identifiers ........................................................................................................... 175
Figure 7-72: Roster Options .................................................................................................................. 177
Figure 7-73: Improper Reporting of Program Enrollment Effective Date ............................. 183
Figure 7-74: Improper Reporting of the “Move To” ..................................................................... 183
Figure 7-75: Improper reporting of Published Program Length.............................................. 184
Figure 7-76: Data Collection – COD vs NSLDS ............................................................................... 185
Figure 7-77: Correcting Enrollment History..................................................................................... 186
Figure 8-1: Enrollment Reporting Statistics ..................................................................................... 192
Figure 8-2: Certification Statistics for Location .............................................................................. 194
Figure 8-3: Enrollment Reporting Compliance Notifications History..................................... 196
Figure 8-4: Enrollment Submittal Tracking ...................................................................................... 198
Figure 8-5: Enrollment Certification by Quarter............................................................................. 201
Figure 8-6: Enrollment Statistics Report ........................................................................................... 202
Figure 8-7: Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup Detail Report ......................................... 203
Figure 8-8: Enrollment Compliance Report ..................................................................................... 204
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Figure 8-9: Enrollment Reporting 2020 Invalid CIP Codes Report .......................................... 205
Figure 8-10: Enrollment Reporting Deleted CIP Code Report .................................................. 206
Figure 8-11: Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report ............................................................. 207
Figure 8-12: Enrollment Errors Report............................................................................................... 209
Figure 8-13: Enrollment Reporting Summary Report .................................................................. 210
Figure 8-14: Enrollment Reporting Certification Report ............................................................. 211
Figure 8-15: ER Program-Level Certification Report .................................................................... 212
Figure 8-16: NSLDS–COD Program Comparison Report ............................................................ 213
Figure 8-17: Late Enrollment Certifications Report....................................................................... 214
Figure 8-18: Enrollment Reporting No Certified Programs Report ........................................ 216
Figure 8-19: Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Campus Report ....................... 218
Figure 8-20: Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Program Report ...................... 219
Figure 8-21: Enrollment History Report ............................................................................................ 221

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Chapter 1

Introduction
The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) is the U.S. Department of Education's
central database for federal student aid disbursed under Title IV of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended. Among other things, NSLDS monitors the programs of
attendance and the enrollment status of Title IV aid recipients. Accurate and timely
Enrollment Reporting to NSLDS is essential to the Department of Education’s successful
delivery of Title IV aid. This guide provides you with the requirements and guidance for
reporting enrollment details using the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting process.

1.1 Why Report?
Enrollment Reporting is required for all schools participating in Title IV aid. The details of
the specific regulations including the Department’s guidance can be found later in this
guide.
The collection of enrollment data is essential to the Department for many reasons:
•

It protects the rights of borrowers who were subject to the 150% limit (those with
loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2013 and before July 1, 2021) by ensuring
that loan interest subsidies are based on accurate enrollment data.

•

It ensures loan repayment dates are accurately based on the last date of
attendance.

•

It allows in-school deferments to be automatically granted using NSLDS
enrollment data.

•

It provides vast amounts of critical data about the effectiveness of Title IV aid
programs, including completion data.

See Chapter 2 for more information about why you must report to NSLDS.

1.2 Who to Report?
Schools are required to certify enrollment for ALL students who are included on their
Roster file. NSLDS will include, on the Roster file, undergraduate and graduate Title IV
aid recipients enrolled at your school, including students who have received Title IV aid
at a school other than yours and who NSLDS knows, or has reason to believe is enrolled
at your school due to reporting by another source.
Add to your Roster Response students who received Title IV aid at your school, or
another school, who are enrolled at your school but not already on your Roster.
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Chapter 1

See Chapter 3 for more information about who to report to NSLDS.

1.3 What to Report?
Schools are required to report details about:
•

The Student – Name, Social Security Number, address, email address, and phone
number.

•

The Campus-Level Enrollment for the student – data related to the student’s
overall enrollment at your campus, including Enrollment Status and Effective
Date, Anticipated Completion Date, and Certification Date.

•

The Program(s) of Attendance for the student – Classification of Instructional
Programs (CIP) code, CIP Year, Program Credential Level, Program Length,
Program Enrollment Status, and other data about the program.

See Chapter 4 for more information about what you must report to NSLDS.

1.4 When to Report?
At a minimum, schools are required to certify enrollment every 60 days, and respond
within 15 days of the date that NSLDS sends a Roster file to the school or its third-party
servicer. This requirement also applies to schools that report exclusively online.
Any errors identified and returned by NSLDS, in an Error/Acknowledgement file should
be corrected and resubmitted within 10 days.
See Chapter 5 for more information about when to report to NSLDS.

1.5 Ways to Report
Schools have several options available to them to report enrollment information to the
Department. These include using the National Student Loan Data System Professional
Access (NSLDSFAP) web pages, submitting a spreadsheet through NSLDSFAP, and
submitting via batch file. The reporting requirements remain the same regardless of the
reporting method chosen.
See Chapter 6 for more information on ways to report enrollment data.

1.6 How to Report?
Managing the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting process requires the user to have both
batch and online enrollment update access; however, the process can be managed
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Chapter 1

entirely online. The batch process uses the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) to
transmit enrollment files electronically. The online capability provides access to the
National Student Loan Data System Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website.
See 6.3 for more information about how to report to NSLDS.

1.7 Monitoring of Reporting Compliance
It is very important that schools report enrollment data consistently and accurately to
the Department of Education using NSLDS. The Department monitors school reporting
and informs schools when they are late responding to their Roster, or if they are not
reporting data at an acceptable level. Enrollment Reporting Statistics, Compliance
Notifications, Late Roster Notifications, and Enrollment Reports are tools that can be
used to monitor and measure compliance.
See Chapter 8 for more information on how NSLDS and schools monitor compliance
with Enrollment Reporting.

Chapter 1 Key Points to Remember
 Accurate and timely Enrollment Reporting to NSLDS is essential to the
Department of Education’s successful delivery of Title IV aid.
 Report enrollment for all students that NSLDS includes on your Roster file
which will include undergraduate and graduate Title IV aid recipients enrolled
at your school that may have received Title IV aid at a school other than yours.
 Report the student demographics, Campus-Level Enrollment, and the
Program(s) of Attendance for the student.
 Schools may report enrollment information using the NSLDSFAP web pages,
submitting a spreadsheet, and submitting via batch file.
 Certify enrollment for ALL students who are included on your Roster file at least
every 60 days, and within 15 days of the date that NSLDS sends a Roster file to
the school or its third-party servicer.
 Enrollment Reporting Statistics, Compliance Notifications, Late Roster
Notifications, and Enrollment Reports are tools used to monitor and measure
compliance.

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Chapter 2

Why Report?
Federal regulations and related guidance governing Title IV student aid programs
require schools to report the enrollment of students who receive federal student aid.
Accurate and timely completion of Enrollment Reporting satisfies these requirements for
schools. This chapter discusses the reasons why schools must provide the Department
with information about the student’s campus and enrollment.

2.1 Federal Regulations
The HEA charges the Department with the creation and maintenance of the National
Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
The Department has implemented NSLDS Enrollment Reporting requirements through
specific regulations in the Direct Loan, FFEL, and Perkins Loan Programs at 34 CFR
685.309(b), 682.610(c), and 674.33(j), respectively.
Generally, these regulations require that schools report information requested by the
Department in a timeframe specified by the Department.

Figure 2-1: Enrollment Reporting Uses

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Chapter 2

2.2 Additional Guidance
Guidance regarding Enrollment Reporting for schools participating in Title IV programs:
NSLDS Newsletters
•

Newsletter 68: Implementation of 2020 CIP Codes in NSLDS

•

Newsletter 67: New NSLDS Reports for School Users

•

Newsletter 66: Enhancements to Enrollment Reporting Reports

•

Newsletter 64: New Enrollment History Update Page and Enrollment Reporting
Compliance Notifications

•

Newsletter 63: March 2019 Enrollment Reporting Enhancements and Previously
Retrieved Borrower Search

•

Newsletter 62: January 2019 Grants Page Enhancements and New Report for
Enrollment Reporting

•

Newsletter 61: November 2018 Aid Overpayment Enhancements and New Report
for Enrollment Reporting

•

Newsletter 60: July 2018 NSLDS Enhancements Including the New Maximum
Eligibility Timeline Page

•

Newsletter 59: December 2017 NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup
Detail Report

•

Newsletter 58: April 2017 New Enrollment Reports, Enrollment Reporting
Compliance Notifications, and Award ID Search Functionality

•

Newsletter 57: February 2017 New NSLDS Organization Profile Page and
Scheduled Report Enhancements

•

Newsletter 56: December 2016 Enrollment Errors Report

•

Newsletter 55: August 2016 Enrollment Reporting Enhancements

•

Newsletter 53: March 2016 Perkins Spreadsheet Submittal and Enrollment
Reporting Enhancements

•

Newsletter 51: February 2016 Enhancements to NSLDS Cohort Default Rate
Reports and Enrollment Reporting

•

Newsletter 49: July 2015 Enhancements to NSLDS for Enrollment Reporting and
Gainful Employment

•

Newsletter 47: February 2015 Recent NSLDS Enhancements

•

Newsletter 46: June 2014 Enhancements to NSLDS

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•

Chapter 2

Newsletter 45: April 2014 Enhancements to NSLDS

Electronic Announcements (EA)
•

EA June 15, 2021: Repeal of the Direct Loan Program Subsidized Usage Limit
Restriction (SULA)

•

EA June 11, 2021: 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit: Electronic Announcement
#25 – Guidance and Operational Information for the Repeal of 150% Subsidized
Usage Limit

•

EA April 21, 2017: NSLDS Enrollment Reporting - Compliance Notifications

•

EA April 20, 2017: Summer Term Enrollment Reporting to the National Student
Loan Data System (NSLDS)

•

EA April 20, 2017: NSLDS Enrollment Reporting - Submission Dates, Effective
Dates and Certification Dates

•

EA May 13, 2016: 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit: Electronic Announcement
#22 – Important Reminders About Program-Level Enrollment Reporting to NSLDS

•

EA September 25, 2015: 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit: Electronic
Announcement #19 - Importance of Accurate Direct Loan and Enrollment
Reporting to Prevent Loss of Subsidy (Updated October 8, 2015)

•

EA July 20, 2015: 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit: Electronic Announcement
#18 - Implementation of Loss of Interest Subsidy Based on Enrollment

•

EA April 20, 2015: 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit: Electronic Announcement
#17 - School Misreporting of Data to COD and NSLDS

•

EA December 23, 2014: Compliance with Program-Level Enrollment Reporting to
NSLDS

•

EA September 26, 2014: Reminder of Program-Level Enrollment Reporting
Requirement

Dear Colleague Letters
•

DCL GEN-14-17: August 2014

•

DCL GEN-14-07: April 2014

All of these are available on the Knowledge Center of FSA Partner Connect (Knowledge
Center) website.

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Chapter 2

2.3 The Importance of Accurate, Timely, and Complete
Enrollment Data
The accurate administration of the Title IV programs depends heavily on the accuracy of
the enrollment information reported by schools. Schools must review, update, and verify
student enrollment statuses, program information, and effective dates that appear on
the Enrollment Reporting Roster file or on the Enrollment Maintenance page of the
NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website. The data on the school’s Roster, or
Enrollment Maintenance page, is what NSLDS has as the most recently certified
enrollment information. Schools must also correct any returned errors that are identified
by NSLDS within 10 days.
Accurate, timely, and complete enrollment data is also important to your students, who
can view their enrollment information online. The StudentAid.gov website allows
students to view their current Campus Enrollment information and their Program
Enrollment history.
Finally, timely and complete enrollment status reporting, including adding new or
transfer students who have prior Title IV aid to the enrollment roster response, can help
the school by reducing the need for students to bring in paper deferment forms for
completion by the school.

Schools are required to fully and accurately respond to
the Enrollment Reporting Roster files within 15 days.
Rosters will be sent to schools no less frequently than
every two months.
2.4 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit
As of July 1, 2021, NSLDS no longer determines Loss of Subsidy for any Direct
Subsidized Loan. However, loans that lost subsidy and had a zero balance on July 1,
2021, will continue to display in a Loss of Subsidy status. For more information on the
SULA Repeal see EA June 15, 2021.
Prior to July 1, 2021, the Department published Final Regulations (79 FR 3108) on
January 17, 2014, for the 150% Direct Subsidized Loan Limit. These regulations, related
to a new program-length-based time limit on a borrower’s eligibility for Direct
Subsidized Loans, necessitated significant changes to the Enrollment Reporting process.
Schools and NSLDS had a key role in implementing these regulations.
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•

Chapter 2

Enrollment Reporting was used to determine if borrowers had:
a. Graduated before exceeding the 150% limit, qualifying for protection of
their interest subsidies, or
b. Exceeded the 150% limit, losing eligibility for interest subsidies.

If a school reported a change to a student’s enrollment, NSLDS used newly certified
enrollment data to recalculate a student’s 150% limit and determine if loss or protection
of subsidy should occur.

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Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Key Points to Remember
 Federal regulations require schools to report enrollment of students who
receive federal student aid.
 NSLDS uses school certified enrollment data to track whether a school is
complying with applicable regulations and guidance.
 Timely and complete enrollment status reporting can help reduce the need for
paper deferment forms.
 Enrollment Reporting Statistics, Compliance Notifications, Late Roster
Notifications, and Enrollment Reports are tools used to monitor and measure
compliance.

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Who to Report?
This chapter discusses who is required to report enrollment information to NSLDS and
which students and types of programs should be reported.

3.1 Which Schools Should Report Enrollment Information?
Under provisions of the HEA, the Department’s regulations, and related guidance, all
schools participating in Title IV programs are required to report enrollment information
about students who appear on their Roster file.
Note: Schools which do not directly participate in Title IV programs, but which are
eligible for students to receive In-School Deferments on previous Title IV loans,
should report Campus-Level Enrollment information to NSLDS. This is important as it
ensures that students receive their entitled deferment benefits. However, such
schools must not report Program-Level Enrollment information, please see Section
4.4.1.

3.2 Types of Students to be Reported
Report all students that NSLDS includes on each Roster file. NSLDS will include on the
Roster file undergraduate and graduate federal student aid recipients enrolled at your
school, including students who have received Title IV aid at a school other than yours
and that NSLDS knows or has reason to believe is enrolled at your school.
Students that NSLDS will add to your Roster file will include:
•

Students who have a loan made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL)
Program or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program.

•

Students who have Federal Perkins Loans.

•

Students who have received Federal Pell Grants, Teacher Education Assistance for
College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grants, Academic Competitiveness Grants
(ACG) or Science and Math Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants.

•

Students on whose behalf a parent borrowed Parent PLUS loan(s).

•

Students who have been reported to NSLDS as attending your school by federal
loan servicers, lenders, other schools, or by the student.

•

Students who have been submitted to NSLDS for Transfer Student Monitoring
(TSM) and/or Financial Aid History (FAH), if elected by your school.

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Students that you should add to your Roster Response include:
•

Any students who received any of the above types of Title IV aid at your school,
but do not appear on your Roster.

•

Any students who received Title IV aid at another school who are enrolled at your
school but not receiving Title IV aid at your school.

Visiting, Transient, or Consortium Students
Some schools have arrangements with other schools (of varying levels of formality) that
allow students enrolled in a degree or credential program at one school (the “Home
School”) to take some courses at another school where the student may or may not be
enrolled for a degree or credential (the “Host School”). In cases where the student is not
enrolled at the Host School for the purposes of receiving a degree or certificate, the
following guidance applies:
•

The Home School must report the student’s combined enrollment status level (for
both Campus and Program), including the enrollment information obtained from
Host School.

•

The Host School should not report enrollment for the student. If student is
included on the Host School’s NSLDS Enrollment Roster (which will likely be the
case if the Host School is disbursing Title IV aid to the student), the Host School
should remove student by using ‘X’ (Never Attended) as the enrollment status.

In the rarer cases where the student is enrolled, for the purposes of receiving a degree
or certificate from both the Home School and the Host School, the student should be
reported by both schools, just like in cases where the student simply happens to be
enrolled in different programs at different schools.
This section applies to students taking courses at different schools. For students taking
courses at multiple locations of the same school, please see Section 4.1.

3.3 Schools Who Use an Enrollment Reporting Servicer
As with any school/servicer arrangement for the administration of Title IV programs, if
the school uses an Enrollment Reporting Servicer, the school still has the primary
responsibility for submitting timely, accurate, and complete responses to Enrollment
Reporting Roster files, and for reporting any changes in student enrollment status in a
timely manner. Schools must also make sure they maintain proper documentation in
accordance with 34 CFR 682.610(c) and 34 CFR 685.300(b).
Schools must understand that their reporting of data to their servicers may differ from
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what the servicer reports to NSLDS in response to Rosters on behalf of the school. If
your school uses a servicer and also reports information directly to NSLDS, it is very
important that the data reported to NSLDS is also reported to the servicer, so the
school-reported data and the servicer-reported data are in sync. If the data is not also
reported to the servicer after being reported to NSLDS, the school-reported data
could be overwritten when the servicer responds to Enrollment Reporting Roster files.
You can see your Roster Schedule on the Enrollment Reporting Profile page of the
NSLDSFAP website. NSLDS will send the Roster to the designated servicer. However, if
the response is not received in a timely manner, NSLDS will notify the school rather than
the servicer. Refer to Chapter 8 for more information on the Late Enrollment Reporting
Roster Notification process.
In accordance with 34 CFR 668.25, schools must report their Enrollment Reporting
Servicer on the Application for Approval to Participate in the Federal Student Financial
Aid Programs (E-App).
In addition to reporting the servicer relationship on the E-App, you may designate the
Servicer’s SAIG mailbox to receive the Enrollment Reporting Rosters from NSLDS. You
may do this when you sign up for SAIG or at any time thereafter, through
FSAWebEnroll.ed.gov.
The Enrollment Reporting Process, when using a servicer, proceeds as follows:
1. NSLDS sends your school’s Enrollment Reporting Roster file to your servicer.
2. The servicer matches the Enrollment Reporting Roster file to enrollment data that
you provide to the servicer.
3. The servicer returns an Enrollment Reporting Submittal File to NSLDS.
4. NSLDS processes the Enrollment Reporting Submittal file and returns the
Error/Acknowledgment File to the servicer. The servicer may need to contact you
to correct any errors.
5. The servicer corrects the errors and returns the Error Correction File to NSLDS.
Even though a school may use an Enrollment Reporting Servicer, it is important that a
member of the school has an FSA User ID with online enrollment update capabilities.
This allows the school to make immediate enrollment updates to the NSLDSFAP website
to ensure timely:
•

Conversion to repayment without loss of the grace period.

•

Documentation of enrollment for the automatic granting of in-school status
or deferments instead of requiring a school to complete a paper In-School
Deferment form.

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•

Reporting of students that have transferred to the school, when the school is
made aware of the student’s prior Title IV aid. This avoids circumstances in
which the student’s loans enter their grace period and the student brings the
school a paper In-School Deferment form to complete.

•

Reporting of enrollment should the servicer relationship change.

Timely reporting of enrollment status ensures proper
administration of the Title IV student aid programs.
3.4 Listing an Enrollment Reporting Contact
Each school is required to have at least an Enrollment Reporting contact and a primary
contact on the NSLDSFAP website for important communications from NSLDS. This
information is crucial to enable efficient communication with the school regarding
NSLDS related issues. The Department, Federal Loan Servicers, Guarantee Agencies,
other schools, and other Federal Student Aid partners refer to this page for contact
information.
If your organization has no existing contacts on the Org Contact List, select Add New
Contact. Select Enrollment Reporting from the list of Available Functions; enter the First
Name and Last Name of the primary contact for Enrollment Reporting at the institution.
Add the contact information available for that individual (Phone, E-Mail, etc.) and select
Submit to add the information to the Org Contact List. Complete the same process to
add the primary contact for the organization.

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Figure 3-1: Organization Contact Add
To update the Enrollment Reporting contact and the primary contact of an organization,
login to the NSLDSFAP website and access Org Contact List on the Org tab. Once on the
Org Tab, select the blue Active Number Icon to the left of the Enrollment Reporting
contact. The Organization Contact Detail page will display all information currently on
the NSLDSFAP for that individual. Select if your organization has no existing contacts on
the Org Contact List Update to navigate to the Organization Contact Update page.
Update information as necessary and then select Submit to add the information to the
Org Contact List. Complete the same process to update the primary contact information
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for the organization, as necessary.

Chapter 3 Key Points to Remember
 All schools participating in Title IV programs are required to report enrollment
information about students who appear on their Roster file.
 Add students who received Title IV aid at your school, but do not appear on
your Roster and students who received Title IV aid at another school who are
enrolled at your school but not receiving Title IV aid at your school.
 Deferment Only schools should report Campus-Level enrollment information
only
 The Home School must report a student’s combined enrollment status level
(for both Campus and Program), while the Host School should not report
enrollment for the student.
 Schools using an Enrollment Reporting Servicer are still responsible for
submitting timely, accurate, and complete responses to Enrollment Reporting
Roster files.
 Roster schedules can be viewed on the Enrollment Reporting Profile page of
the NSLDSFAP website.
 Each school is required to have at least an Enrollment Reporting contact and a
primary contact on the NSLDSFAP website for important communications from
NSLDS.

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Chapter 4

What to Report?
This chapter describes what enrollment information should be reported to NSLDS,
defines the data elements, and describes how the information is organized and
submitted to NSLDS.

4.1 Campus/Location
Enrollment is reported for a specific location of each campus; that is, the eight-digit
Office of Postsecondary Education Identification (OPEID) number.
Most students are enrolled in coursework at only one location. However, for students
who are taking coursework at multiple locations of the same school, the school must
determine which location is the student’s “primary location” and report the combined
enrollment for the student using that location to NSLDS. A student’s “primary location”
is the location where the student is taking more coursework than at any other location.
For example, if a student is enrolled in four semester hours at the school’s downtown
location, and two semester hours at the school’s western location, the school should
report the student’s primary location as the downtown location, and report the
combined enrollment level including both locations. If a school cannot determine which
location is a student’s primary location, because the student is taking the same number
of credits at each location, then the school may choose a primary location to report for
the student from the locations at which the student is enrolled.
If a student is enrolled in one location, then moves to a different location within the
school (to a location with a different eight-digit OPEID number), you can use the NSLDS
enrollment Roster, or the NSLDS website to “Move” the student to the new location, as
long as both locations share the same enrollment administrator. Remember that a
change to the student’s location within the system indicates to NSLDS that the student
is in a new program, as a unique program’s identifiers include OPEID, CIP code, CIP Year,
Credential Level, and Program Length. If administrative functions are not shared
between the locations, the enrollment administrator of the previous location must
withdraw the student from the previous location and the enrollment administrator at the
new location must add the student to that location’s Roster.
See Chapter 5, Chapter 6 and 6.3 for more information on Enrollment Administration.

4.2 Programs
Schools need to report enrollment information for all programs in which a student is
enrolled, regardless of whether the program is an “eligible program” for federal student
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aid purposes, or whether the student has received federal student aid for attending the
program. It is possible for a student to be in more than one program at the same time,
and if that is the case, each program must be reported separately. Moreover, there are
certain types of coursework, which are eligible for federal student aid, but which are not
programs in their own right—because they do not lead to credentials. These sets of
coursework, such as preparatory coursework and certain types of teacher certification
programs, are reported at the Program Level for the purposes of enrollment reporting
and have special rules as detailed in the Special Program Indicator (Program-Level
Record) section.
Whenever a student completes a program, withdraws from a program, or changes
programs, the school must appropriately update or add the enrollment status for each
program when it next reports the student’s enrollment to NSLDS. It is also possible that
the student is not actually enrolled in any program at your school, such as a student
enrolled for continuing education. If this is the case, you should report Campus-Level
information but should not report Program-Level enrollment for the student. However,
students who are enrolled in a degree program with “undeclared majors” are in a
program and must have Program-Level Enrollment reported. If a student has not yet
declared a major, use a CIP code such as ‘Liberal Studies, 240101’ or ‘General Studies,
240102’.
The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) is a set of codes that define fields of
study and are maintained by the Department's National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES). CIP Codes were most recently updated in 2020, and are usually updated every
10 years. A listing of current CIP codes is available at: http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cipcode.

Unique Program
For purposes of enrollment reporting, a unique program is defined as a combination of
the school’s eight-digit OPEID number, the CIP code, the CIP Year, the Credential Level,
and the Published Program Length (as reported in or converted to years using the
combination of the Published Program Length, Published Program Length
Measurement, and Weeks in Title IV Academic Year). These fields are commonly referred
to as Program Identifiers.
In cases where a student has declared both a major field of study and a minor field of
study, only the CIP code associated with the major field of study should be reported.
Whenever a student changes majors, the school should report the student as withdrawn
from the previous program and enrolled in the new program on the next enrollment
submission.

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Unique Program = OPEID, CIP Code, CIP Year,
Credential Level, and Published Program Length
Additionally, if the student is enrolled in the same unique program multiple times,
Schools should only report one version of the program with the earliest Program Begin
Date.

4.3 What Information Needs to be Reported?
As noted previously, there are two categories of enrollment information: “CampusLevel” and “Program-Level”, both of which need to be reported and have separate
record types. The main information types are listed below, at a high level.
This data, related data elements, and formatting requirements are described in greater
detail in the Appendices. Not all data elements in the various record types are listed or
discussed below.

Campus-Level Enrollment Data
These are the main data elements found in the Campus-Level Record:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Student Current SSN
Student Name

Student Date of Birth
Student Address

Student Phone Number
OPEID Number

September 2021

•
•
•
•
•
•

Move To OPEID

Certification Date

Enrollment Status

Enrollment Effective Date

Anticipated Completion Date

Term Begin and Term End Date

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Program-Level Enrollment Data
These are the main data elements found in the Program-Level Record:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Student Current SSN
OPEID

•
•

CIP Code

•

CIP Year

•

Credential Level

Published Program Length
Measurement

•
•

Published Program Length

Weeks in Title IV Academic Year

Program Begin Date

Special Program Indicator

Program Enrollment Status

Program Enrollment Effective
Date

Email Address Data
Schools can report the student’s Email Address, as a separate, optional record type,
which is used by the Department for future communications with the student.

Program Identifier Changes
In addition, Schools have the option to report a change or correction to a previously
reported value in any of the program identifiers.
These are the main data elements found in the Program Identifier Changes Record:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Student Current SSN
OPEID

Current CIP Code
Current CIP Year

•
•
•
•

Current Credential Level

•

Current Published Program Length
Measurement

•

Current Published Program Length

Current Weeks in Title IV
Academic Year

•

New CIP Code
New CIP Year

New Credential Level

New Published Program Length
New Published Program Length
Measurement

New Weeks in Title IV Academic
Year
New Special Program Indicator

4.4 How to Report Specific Fields
This section describes special reporting requirements for certain fields.
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Program Indicator (Campus-Level Record)
Students enrolled in a program of study must have Program-Level enrollment reported
about them. This includes students enrolled in programs that are not “eligible
programs” for the purposes of federal student aid or for which federal student aid is not
offered, students enrolled in graduate and professional programs, students who are
enrolled in degree programs but have not “declared a major”, and students who are
enrolled in a set of coursework which does not lead to a credential but is nevertheless
eligible for federal student aid. Students enrolled at “deferment-only” schools must not
have Program-Level enrollment information reported about them.
The Program Indicator, under the Campus-Level Record type indicates whether a
student is enrolled in at least one program. It must be reported regardless of whether
historical Campus- or Program-Level Enrollment is being corrected. If this field is
populated with a “Y” or “Space” the school is required to report the student’s ProgramLevel Enrollment Data in record type ‘002’ and NSLDS will reject other records for the
student if it does not receive a Program-Level Enrollment record about the student. If
this field is populated with an “N” the school is indicating that the student is not
enrolled in any program, and therefore the school is not reporting the Program-Level
Enrollment Data in Record Type ‘002’. Deferment-only schools should report a Program
Indicator of “N” for all students they report to NSLDS.

Effective Dates, Certification Dates and Received
Dates
Several dates are used by NSLDS in processing student enrollment data. Because each
date has a different meaning and use, it is important for schools to understand the
differences.
Enrollment Status Effective Date is the date that the current enrollment status
reported for a student was first effective. If an academic term is divided into two or
more modules, the Effective Date may not always align with the beginning or ending
date of the term, such as when a student is not enrolled in either the first or the last
module within the term. This date only changes when the student’s enrollment status
changes, for example, when the student drops from full time enrollment to half time
enrollment. The Effective Date remains the same as long as the student stays
continuously enrolled in the same enrollment status The Effective Date should not be
updated each term or each year, or with each NSLDS Enrollment reporting, unless the
student’s enrollment status changed since the last reporting. Effective Date, and its
related enrollment status, must be reported for both the Campus-Level (Campus
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Enrollment Effective Date) and the Program-Level (Program Enrollment Effective Date),
however the dates may not always match, depending on the student’s circumstance.
With limited exception (See Section 4.4.3), the Department defers to a school’s policy
regarding the establishment of effective dates. A school could, for example, make
changes effective on the date it becomes aware of the change or on some date in the
past. Moreover, the requirement that schools report enrollment every 60 days is not
impacted by a school’s choice to establish one effective date over another. In other
words, it is not required that the update be received by NSLDS within two months of the
Enrollment Status Effective Date; rather, the school must report the status change in its
next scheduled enrollment submission, although this might happen months after the
actual effective date. For example, a school may not be aware a student has withdrawn
until sometime after the student stops attending. Or, a student may complete the
coursework for a degree, but it takes the school time to determine whether the student
meets all graduation requirements, and then the school would use an Effective Date
backdated to the date the school assigns for graduation. Even though a school may not
be able to report a status change until more than two months after the actual Effective
Date of that status change, this retroactive reporting does not violate the requirement
to report every 60 days.
When reporting the Enrollment Status Effective Date, it is also possible that the date
reported will pre-date an Effective Date of an earlier submission. This could happen, for
example, when a school grants a student a retroactive withdrawal. The new Effective
Date will inactivate any previously reported status with a later effective date, as the
newer status will be treated by NSLDS as more current. The Enrollment Detail page on
the NSLDS website shows when newer data has inactivated a previously reported
enrollment status.
Certification Date is the date the school certified the enrollment information. The
Certification Date, which changes with each reporting submission, is the date as of
which the school is asserting that the data being reported is accurate; it roughly
corresponds to the date the school (or its servicer) processes its NSLDS Enrollment
Roster. Before NSLDS removes a student from the school’s Enrollment Roster, the
terminal statuses of X, Z, G, W, and D must be certified in two consecutive reporting
cycles with different Certification Dates but with the same effective date, however, a
program will drop from the Roster after a single reporting of X, Z, G or W.
Received Date is not reported by schools, but is the date NSLDS accepts and loads
updates to the enrollment information on NSLDS. If there are no issues with the
enrollment information that a school has submitted, NSLDS accepts and loads updates
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to enrollment information on the same day that the school successfully transmits the
information to NSLDS. This date appears on various pages of the NSLDS website and is
used for informational purposes and in the calculation of enrollment reporting statistics.
See the Electronic Announcement dated April 20, 2017 titled “NSLDS Enrollment
Reporting - Submission Dates, Effective Dates and Certification Dates” for more
information on these dates, including situational examples of proper reporting these
dates.
Properly reporting of the Effective and Certification Dates, along with the Received
Dates helps in the determining whether a student and/or program should remain on
your school’s Enrollment Roster. A program will drop from the Roster after certifying an
enrollment status of X, Z, G, or W once, while the student will remain on the Roster until
two consecutive certifications (different certification dates) with statuses of X, Z, G, W or
D and the same effective date are received.
The following table is a simple example of how proper reporting of these dates impact
the actions of the student and program on the Enrollment Roster.
Certification
Date

Campus-level
Enrollment
Status

Program-level
Enrollment
Status

Effective
Date

Received
Date

Roster Action

5/1/2018

Full Time

Full Time

8/10/2014

5/14/2018 No Action

6/1/2018

Graduated (G)

Graduated (G)

5/15/2018

6/13/2018 Program
Dropped from
the Roster (1
certification)

7/1/2018

Graduated (G)

No Program
Indicator

5/15/2018

7/14/2018 Student
Dropped from
the Roster (2
certifications)

Note: A different Certification Date but the same Effective Date is needed.
Table 4-1: Enrollment Certification Counts

Withdrawal versus Graduation and Effective Dates
When a student withdraws during a term (or, in a non-term program, during a payment
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period), the effective date for the withdrawn (‘W’) status is the withdrawal date used by
the institution in accordance with 34 CFR 668.22(b) or (c). In the case of the student
who completes a term and does not return for the next term, leaving the course of study
uncompleted, the effective date for the ‘W’ status is the final day of the term in which
the student was last enrolled.
Please note that if a student enrolled in a program with modules, withdraws from a later
module but is not considered a withdrawn student for R2T4 purposes because the
student meets one of the withdrawal exemptions, the student is treated as having
completed the term and the school must report the student as withdrawn as of the final
day of the payment period in which the student was last enrolled. For example, a student
enrolls in four modules within a semester taking a three credit class in each module. The
student successfully completes modules 1 and 2, begins attendance in, but, withdraws
from module 3 and does not begin attendance in module 4. The institution reviews the
withdrawal exemption regulations and determines that the student meets one of the
R2T4 withdrawal exemptions and therefore, the student is not considered withdrawn for
R2T4 purposes. Since the student is not considered an R2T4 withdrawal, even though
the student stopped attending in module 3, the school would list the student as
withdrawn as of the final day of the semester in which the student was last enrolled.
An exception to this requirement is if a student meets the graduate withdrawal
exemption. For a student who graduates early during a program of study, the school
may follow the NSLDS reporting flexibilities associated with students who graduate
which, among other things, states the effective date for a completion/graduation status
(‘G’) is the date that the school assigns to the completion/graduation.
The effective date for a completion/graduation status (‘G’) is the date that the school
assigns to the completion/graduation. In particular, a completion/graduation status
could be either the same as the effective date of a previously reported ‘W’ or sometime
after that date. Some schools may wait to assess a student’s completion of program
requirements and, therefore, report a ‘W’ when the student is no longer attending
classes followed by a ‘G’ when completion is confirmed with whatever effective date the
school gives the graduation status.
It is important to note that, for a student who has graduated, schools who initially report
a withdrawn status must subsequently report the student as having graduated by
certifying a ‘G’ status at the Campus-Level and/or Program-Level as appropriate. This is
true even if the student or the student’s applicable program no longer appears on the
school’s Enrollment Reporting Roster because the school has certified the ‘W’ status
twice. In this case, the school must add the student and/or program back to the Roster
to report the ‘G’. The graduated status may protect the interest subsidy on the student’s
current loans.
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Note that if the effective date of the ‘G’ status is later than the loan period end date of
the student’s last Direct Subsidized Loan, this could trigger loss of subsidy, since the
student would be considered enrolled up to the graduation date. To prevent this, the
school should (if the student received a loan for the final period of attendance prior to
completing the program) first report a ‘W’ status with the appropriate effective date,
and NSLDS will use the ‘W’ status effective date to protect the loan subsidy, provided
that the date is not later than the last loan period end date. If the student did not
receive a loan in the final period, the effective date of the ‘W’ status should equal the
student's last date of attendance in the final term or payment period in which the
student completes the program.
Additionally, reporting the ‘W’ as soon as it occurs ensures the timely movement of
loans into repayment. Take advantage of school procedures for students going through
a withdrawal process to report the ‘W’ as soon as possible. This may mean giving
enrollment online update capability to personnel at the school who can do an
immediate update.

Reporting Graduation and Anticipated
Completion Dates
A school must correctly report students who have completed a program with a ‘G’ for
“Graduated” status rather than a ‘W’ for “Withdrawn”. Further, an accurately anticipated
completion date aids in correct servicing of a student’s loans, avoiding unnecessary
early conversion to repayment or too late conversion, causing technical defaults.
Because schools report enrollment statuses, including ‘W’ and ‘G’ at both the CampusLevel and Program-Level, it is important to understand when each status is appropriate
at each level. At the Campus-Level, a student should only be reported as withdrawn or
graduated if the student has either withdrawn or graduated from the school entirely. At
the Program-Level, a student should only be reported as withdrawn or graduated if the
student has withdrawn or graduated from the program, about which the school is
reporting. As a result, it is possible for a student in multiple programs to be reported as
withdrawn at the Campus-Level, and graduated at the Program-Level. This could
happen when the school has determined that the student has graduated from one
program, but is pending a final graduation determination in another program.

Continuous Enrollment (Campus- and ProgramLevel Record)
Students are considered to be in school and continuously enrolled during academic year
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holiday and vacation periods, as well as during the summers between academic years,
even if not enrolled in a summer session, as long as there is a reason to believe that they
intend to enroll for the next regularly scheduled term. For example, students should not
be reported as “withdrawn” at the end of the spring term if they are expected to reenroll for the fall term. In this case, schools should continue to report the student’s last
enrollment status through the summer months (or through another non-required
period of attendance). However, if the student does not return as expected, the status
must be changed to “withdrawn” with the appropriate effective date.
The table below provides examples of how a student should be reported for a summer
term based on how the student was enrolled in the preceding spring term. In all cases, it
is assumed that the school has no reason to believe that the student will not be
returning in the fall, is expected to be enrolled in the same status that they ended the
spring term, and that the summer is not a period during which students are generally
expected to attend classes.
If the student is
enrolled at the end of
the spring term –

And during the
summer term is –

Full time

Not enrolled

Full time

Full time

Full time

Full time

Full time

Half time

Half time (with an effective date of
the beginning of the summer)

Full time

Less than half time

Full time

Half time

Not enrolled

Half time

Half time

Full time

Half time

Half time

Half time

Less than half time

Less than half time

Not enrolled

Less than half time

Full time

Full time (with an effective date of
the beginning of the summer)

Less than half time

Half time

Half time (with an effective date of
the beginning of the summer)

September 2021

The school should report during
the summer –

Full time (with an effective date of
the beginning of the summer)
Half time
Half time
Less than half time

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NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide
If the student is
enrolled at the end of
the spring term –

And during the
summer term is –

Less than half time

Less than half time

Chapter 4
The school should report during
the summer –
Less than half time

Table 4-2: Reporting Continuous Enrollment
As stated above, if the student enrolls in the summer term (or other non-required terms)
at least half time, the student’s actual summer enrollment status is reported. If such a
student subsequently withdraws from the summer term, the student’s most recent
enrollment status of half time or greater should be reported throughout the remainder
of the summer. If the student does not return in the fall as expected, the status must be
changed to “Withdrawn” with the date the student withdrew from the summer term as
the Enrollment Status Effective Date.
Additionally, if a student changes programs between terms, schools may report the
Program Begin Date for the new program with the same date as the Enrollment Status
Effective Date as the “Withdrawn” from the previous program. This will ensure that the
student is considered to be continuously enrolled. For example, if the student enrolls in
an associate’s degree program to take courses over the summer term before coming
back to a bachelor’s degree program in the fall.

Published Program Length and Associated Fields
(Program-Level Record)
The Published Program Length, Published Program Length Measurement, and Weeks in
Title IV Academic Year are part of the Program-Level detail record.
Published Program Length should be reported based on the definition of “normal time”
to completion in the regulations at 34 CFR 668.41(a), as follows:
•

•

If the school has published, in its catalog, on its website, or in any promotional
materials, the length of the program in weeks, months, or years, the program length
reported must be the same as the program length that the school has published.
Note: For gainful employment programs, the school must have published the
program’s length in weeks, months, or years on the school’s website.
If the school has not published a program length and the program is an associate or
bachelor’s degree program, the program length to be reported should be two years
(associate) or four years (bachelor), respectively, unless the academic design of the
program makes it longer or shorter than typical.
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•

Chapter 4

For all other programs for which the school has not published a program length, the
program length is based on the school’s determination of how long, in weeks, months,
or years, the program is designed for a full-time student to complete.
Consistent with the guidelines above, schools are free to choose whether to report their
program lengths in years, months, or weeks. However, schools should report the same
program length and unit of measure for all students in the program. The school should
also report one program length and unit per student per program.
Lastly, schools must report the weeks of instructional time in their Title IV Academic
Year, but only if they report a program length that is measured in months or weeks. This
is one of the components of the school’s academic year, as defined in 34 CFR 668.3.
Below are examples of how to report these fields:
Note: For Published Program Length and Weeks in Title IV Academic Year there is
an implied decimal between the third and fourth position.
•

10-week program Example:
o Published Program Length = 10 weeks  010000

o Published Program Length Measurement = Weeks  W
o Weeks in Title IV Academic Year = 26 weeks  026000

•

1.5-year program Example:

o Published Program Length = 1.5 years  001500

o Published Program Length Measurement = Years  Y

o Weeks in Title IV Academic Year = Not required when reporting in years
(report all zeroes: 000000 when not required)
The minimum number of weeks for an academic year is 26 weeks of instructional time
for clock-hour programs, and 30 weeks of instructional time for credit-hour programs.
Note that the three program length fields (Published Program Length, Published
Program Length Measurement (W-M-Y), and Weeks in Title IV Academic Year) are used
together to determine the Published Program Length, converted to years, and in turn to
calculate the Maximum Eligibility Period. A change or correction to the reported value in
any of these three fields will cause the program length to be recalculated, and a new
unique program will be created based on the new length. In this case, the school should
inactivate the prior program with incorrect length by reporting it with a Program-Level
Enrollment Status of ‘X’ – Never Attended, with a Program Status Effective Date equal to
the Program Begin Date for that program.
Note: Most schools should report associate and bachelor’s degree programs in years
rather than in months. For example, report a four-year bachelor’s program as four years,
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Chapter 4

NOT as 48 months, or a two-year Associate’s program as two years, NOT 24 months.
When program length is reported in months or weeks, NSLDS uses this value along with
the “Weeks in Title IV Academic Year” value to calculate a length in years. This can result
in program lengths which are too long. For example, if a four-year bachelor’s program is
reported with a Published Program Length of 48 Months, and Weeks in Title IV
Academic Year of 32 Weeks, this will convert to a Program Length of 6.4 years.
Use the following formula to convert from Weeks to Months and from Months to Years:
•

Months to Years: Published Program Length in Years = (Published Program
Length in Months multiply by 30) divided by (Weeks in Title IV Academic Year
multiply by 7)

•

Months to Weeks: Published Program Length in Years = Published Program
Length in Weeks divided by Weeks in Title IV Academic Year

There are minimum and maximums for Published Program Length, in years, that can be
reported for each Credential Level. Records that are submitted to NSLDS that do not
conform to these minimums and maximums will be rejected. Programs that are reported
in weeks or months will first be converted to years before judging whether they conform
to these minimum and maximum program length requirements. The minimum and
maximum program lengths are listed below. Just because NSLDS will accept a program
that is reported with a certain length does not serve as an indication that the reported
data is accurate. Instead, these requirements should be understood as reasonability
checks to ensure that severely inaccurate data is not stored in NSLDS.
Credential
Level

Credential Level
Description

Minimum
Years > or =

Maximum
Years > or =

01

Undergraduate Certificate or
Diploma Program

0.1

10

Associate's Degree

0.4

10

03

Bachelor's Degree

0.9

10

04

Post Baccalaureate Certificate

0.4

10

05

Master's Degree

0.4

12

06

Doctoral Degree

0.9

12

07

First Professional Degree

0.2

10

08

Graduate/Professional Certificate

0.2

10

02

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NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide
Credential
Level
99

Credential Level
Description

Non-Credential Program [Preparatory
Coursework/Teacher Certification]

Chapter 4
Minimum
Years > or =
0.1

Maximum
Years > or =
10

Table 4-3: Program-Level Reasonability

Credential Level (Program-Level Record)
For most programs, the credential level associated with the program is obvious from the
nature of the program itself. However, special consideration should be paid to credential
level ‘99’, which is for coursework that is eligible for Title IV aid, but that does not lead
to a credential that is conferred by the school. In the description of credential level ‘99’,
preparatory coursework and teacher certification programs are specifically mentioned.
However, this is not to say that this is the only type of coursework for which a credential
level of ‘99’ is appropriate.
For example, certain types of coursework at community colleges that are designed to
lead to a student transferring into a bachelor’s degree program (two-year transfer
program), but that does not lead to an associate degree or other credential are, firstly
eligible programs for Title IV aid purposes (See 34 CFR 668.8(c)(2)), and secondly, should
be reported with a credential level of ‘99’ and a program length and CIP Code that
corresponds to the length and nature of the program. These are not considered to be
“special programs”; therefore, a Special Program Indicator of ‘N’ (not applicable) should
be reported.
Definitions of credential levels and equivalent Integrated Postsecondary Education Data
System (IPEDS) credential levels:
•

‘01’ (Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma Program)
o An award that requires completion of an organized program of study
below the bachelor’s. It is designed for persons who have not completed a
baccalaureate degree, and may or may not be designed for those who
have completed an associate degree.
o Equivalent IPEDS Award Levels:

September 2021



1 - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of (less than 1
academic year)



2 - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of (at least 1 but
less than 2 academic years)



4 - Postsecondary award, certificate, or diploma of (at least 2 but
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Chapter 4

less than 4 academic years)
•

‘02’ (Associate’s Degree)
o Equivalent IPEDS Award Levels:


•

3 - Associate's degree

‘03’ (Bachelor’s Degree)
o Equivalent IPEDS Award Levels:


•

5 - Bachelor's degree

‘04’ (Post Baccalaureate Certificate)
o An award that requires completion of an organized program of study
beyond the bachelor's. It is designed for persons who have completed a
baccalaureate degree.

•

‘05’ (Master’s Degree)
o Equivalent IPEDS Award Levels:


•

7 - Master's degree

‘06’ (Doctoral Degree)
o A doctor's degree that is conferred upon completion of a program that
requires advanced work beyond the master's level, including the
preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or
the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating
substantial artistic or scholarly achievement. The most common doctoral
degree is a Ph.D.
o Equivalent IPEDS Award Level:

•



17 - Doctor's degree - research/scholarship



19 - Doctor's degree - other

‘07’ (First Professional Degree)
o A professional degree that is conferred upon completion of a program
providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or
license required for professional practice. Common professional degrees
include:

September 2021



Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.)



Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.)



Law (L.L.B., J.D.)
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NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide

o



Medicine (M.D.)



Optometry (O.D.)



Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.)



Pharmacy (Pharm.D.)



Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., or Pod.D.)



Theology (M.Div., M.H.L., B.D., or Ordination)



Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.)

Equivalent IPEDS Award Level:


•

Chapter 4

18 - Doctor's degree - professional practice

‘08’ (Graduate / Professional Certificate)
o A student who holds a bachelor's degree or above and is taking courses at
the graduate level that leads to a credential that is not a degree.
o Equivalent IPEDS Award Levels:


•

8 - Post-master's certificate

‘99’ (Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework / Teacher
Certification))
o A credential level that is to be used when a student is not generally
considered to be enrolled in a program of study, because it does not lead
to a degree or certificate, but for which the student is eligible for Title IV
Aid. Examples of non-credential programs include students who are
enrolled in:

September 2021



Preparatory coursework required to enter an undergraduate or
graduate program;



Certain teacher certification programs which do not lead to a
degree or certificate issued by the institution, but which do allow an
individual who completes the necessary coursework to receive a
license from a state to teach;



Comprehensive Transition Programs for students with intellectual
disabilities that have been approved by the Department; and



A program of at least a two-academic-years that is acceptable for
full credit toward a bachelor's degree.

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Chapter 4

Program Begin Date (Program-Level Record)
The Program Begin Date is the date the student first began attending the program
being reported. Typically, this would be the first day of the term in which the student
began enrollment in the program, unless the student enrolled in the program on an
earlier date. Note: if a student withdraws from the program and later returns to the
exact same program, the Program Begin Date will not change.
When creating the school’s Program-Level Record in the Roster file for a new student or
new program, NSLDS uses the Payment Period Begin Date from the COD System as the
Program Begin Date. Schools need to correct this date if it is incorrect.

Special Program Indicator (Program-Level
Record)
The Special Program Indicator is a field in the Program-Level Record that schools should
use to flag programs that have special treatment under the 150% limit regulations.
For selective admission associate degree programs, as defined in 34 CFR 685.200(f)(9),
schools should report:
•

A Published Program Length of four years, even if the length of the program is
shorter than four years

•

A Special Program Indicator value of ‘A’

•

A Credential Level of ‘02’, which corresponds to “Associate Degree”

Similarly, for bachelor’s degree completion programs, as defined in 34 CFR 685.200(f)(9),
schools should report:
•

A Published Program Length of four years, even if the length of the program is
shorter than four years

•

A Special Program Indicator value of ‘B’

•

A Credential Level of ‘03’, which corresponds to “Bachelor’s Degree”

For preparatory coursework that is required for entrance into an undergraduate
program, schools must report:
•

The Program Length and CIP code that corresponds to the undergraduate program
that the student is taking the preparatory coursework to enter

•

A Credential Level of ‘99’

•

A Special Program Indicator of ‘U’

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Chapter 4

Similarly, for preparatory coursework that is required for entrance into a graduate or
professional program, schools must report:
•

CIP Code for the graduate program the student is taking the coursework to enter

•

Program length and measurement for the graduate program the student is taking
the coursework to enter

•

If the Program Length is in weeks or months, the length in weeks of the reporting
school’s own Title IV Academic Year

•

OPEID of the current location where the prep coursework is being taken

•

Program Begin Date, Enrollment Status and Enrollment Effective Date for the current
coursework at the reporting school

•

A Credential Level of ‘99’

•

A Special Program Indicator of ‘P’

For teacher certification programs that do not lead to a credential, that is conferred by
the school, but that is required before the student can teach in an elementary or
secondary school, the schools must report:
•

The Program Length and CIP Code that corresponds to the program itself

•

A Credential Level of ‘99’

•

A Special Program Indicator of ‘T’

Enrollment Statuses (Campus- and Program-Level
Record)
It is important that the school report the applicable enrollment status and the effective
date of the status of all borrowers attending its school. The enrollment status values are:
•

‘F’ (full-time)

•

‘G’ (graduated)

•

‘Q’ (three-quarter time)

•

‘W’ (withdrawn)

•

‘H’ (half-time)

•

‘D’ (deceased)

•

‘L’ (less than half-time)

•

‘X’ (never attended)

•

‘A’ (leave of absence)

•

‘Z’ (record not found)

A Campus-Level enrollment status should be determined by summing the credit or
clock hours in which the student is enrolled at the school. For students enrolled only at
one location, this is a straightforward process. However, it is more complicated for
students who are enrolled at more than one location of the school. Even though schools
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Chapter 4

must select a primary location for students who are enrolled at more than one location,
the enrollment status that is reported by a school for a location must include all
coursework being taken by the student at all the school’s locations.
After determining the number of credit or clock hours in which the student is enrolled,
the school should compare that number to the school’s definition of full-time, threequarter time, half-time, etc., that it defined according to the definitions in 34 CFR 668.2.
A student’s Program-Level enrollment status should be reported with the same
Enrollment Status as that student’s Campus-Level Enrollment status for all programs the
student is enrolled in at that location, even if the student is not currently taking
coursework that applies to a particular program. If the student has withdrawn or
graduated from an academic program, a “terminal enrollment status” of ‘W’ or ‘G,’ as
appropriate, should be reported for that program, even if the student is still taking
coursework applicable to other programs in which the student is enrolled.
For both Campus-Level and Program-Level Enrollment Reporting, the credit and clock
hours that may be included in the student’s enrollment status include all courses that
the student is taking, regardless of whether such courses could be included in the
determination of the student’s eligibility for aid.

If a school reports an enrollment status of 'X’, ‘Z’, ‘G’, or ‘W’ the
student will remain on the Enrollment Reporting roster until two
consecutive certifications of the same enrollment status and
effective date are reported at the Campus-Level, but only once
at the program-level. Status 'D' must be certified twice at the
Campus- and Program-Level.

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Chapter 4

CIP Year - Auto-Conversion (Program-Level
Record)
For purposes of enrollment reporting, a program’s identifiers are a combination of the
school’s eight-digit OPEID, the CIP Year, the CIP code, the Credential Level, and the
Published Program Length in Years. When a school has determined the only change to
a student’s enrollment program is the CIP Year, the updated 2020 CIP Year can be
submitted in the Program-Level Enrollment Record (Record Type 002), which instructs
NSLDS to perform an auto-conversion on behalf of the school.
An auto-conversion occurs when a previously reported school-certified 2000 or 2010 CIP
Year program is now reported with a 2020 CIP Year (all program identifiers except CIP
Year are identical) to NSLDS. The auto-conversion means that NSLDS will transfer the
active enrollment history from the 2000 or 2010 CIP program to the 2020 CIP program
and apply ‘X’ (Never Attended) as the most current, active enrollment status for the
2000 or 2010 CIP program. Additionally, all the previously active enrollment history on
the 2000 or 2010 CIP program is set to inactive.
Figure 4-1 displays the Active and Inactive Records on the Program Enrollment Detail
Page after a 2020 CIP Year auto conversion has occurred. Program 2 was previously
reported with a 2010 CIP Year and has now been reported with a 2020 CIP Year (all
program identifiers except CIP Year are identical) as seen in Program 1. The active
enrollment history from Program 2 has been transferred to Program 1 and the Never
Attended ‘X’ enrollment status was applied as the most current, active enrollment status.
All previous active enrollment history on Program 2 is now set to inactive.

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Chapter 4

Figure 4-1: CIP Year – Auto Conversion Active and Inactive Records
Furthermore, after a school reports a program with a 2020 CIP Year (which triggers an
auto-conversion) and the same corresponding 2010 CIP Year program is sent to NSLDS
by the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System (all program identifiers
except CIP Year are identical), NSLDS will not include the COD 2010 CIP program on the
roster due to the existence of an auto-conversion. This ensures that the program is not
duplicated.

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Chapter 4

Program Identifier Changes (Program Identifier
Change Record)
As mentioned in section 4.4.11, a program’s identifiers are a combination of the school’s
eight-digit OPEID, the CIP Year, the CIP code, the Credential Level, and the Published
Program Length in Years. A change or correction to the reported value in any of the
program identifiers causes a new program to be created. Previously, to make a
correction, the school needed to manually inactivate the program with incorrect data by
reporting it with a Program-Level Enrollment Status of ‘X’ – Never Attended and then
report the new program with all associated program enrollment history.
Schools may report Program Identifier Changes in the Program Identifier Change
Record (Record Type 004) through SAIG Batch submissions and the Spreadsheet
Submittal process and the Enrollment History Update Page on the NSLDSFAP website.
It is important that the school report all records in a bundle with the same values for
Student Current SSN and OPEID and the school must provide all identifiers for the
Current Program as well as the New Program. For more details on records in a bundle
see section 6.2.1.2 bundle concept.
The Current Program is the program the school has already successfully reported to
NSLDS and the school is needing to correct, whether the program is currently on the
roster or may have been on the roster at some point in the past. The New Program is
the program with the corrected identifiers. Please note that the New Program cannot be
the same as an existing program for the student on NSLDS.
Figure 4-2 displays an example of a school using the Enrollment History Update page on
the NSLDSFAP website to update the Current Program CIP Year from 2010 to 2020 and
Published Program Length in Years from 6.4 to 4. After clicking the Change Identifiers
button, the program identifier fields (CIP Code, CIP Year, Credential Level, and Program
Length in Years) can be updated, as shown in Figure 4-3.

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Chapter 4

Figure 4-2: Program Identifier Changes – Current Program

Figure 4-3: Program Identifier Changes – New Program
A Program Identifier Change works like an auto-conversion. NSLDS transfers the active
enrollment history from the Current Program to the New Program and applies ‘X’ (Never
Attended) as the most current, active enrollment status for the Current Program.
Additionally, all the previously active enrollment history on the Current Program is set to
inactive.
Note: A Program Identifier Change record cannot be reported when the school is
attempting to “Move” the student to a new location. If the “Move To OPEID” field
(Record Type 001) is populated and the Program Identifier Change (Record Type 004) is
included, the bundle will error.

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Chapter 4

See the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Roster File Record Layouts and Enrollment
Spreadsheet Submittal Format available in Appendix A.

Reporting Information to the COD System and
NSLDS
Schools must understand that, although they will be reporting almost the same
Program-Level information to both the COD System and NSLDS, that there are several
reasons that the information will not be the same.
Information is reported “as of” different points in time. For COD, Schools report
snapshots, of the Program-Level data, as of the disbursement date(s). For NSLDS,
schools report snapshots, of the Program-Level data, as of their certification date on an
ongoing basis (at least every 60 days).
Furthermore, the enrollment status that a school reports to COD will include all
coursework on which the student’s loan eligibility is based. The enrollment status that a
school reports to NSLDS is the student’s overall enrollment status and may therefore
include courses for which the student cannot receive financial aid.
There are many reasons for the differences between COD, Postsecondary Education
Participants System (PEPS) and NSLDS data. Therefore, NSLDS will not be performing
compares on the schools reported Program-Level enrollment information between
these three systems. However, the same information should be reported to all systems,
to the greatest extent possible.

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Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Key Points to Remember
 Schools need to report both Campus- and Program-Level enrollment.
 Campus-Level enrolment data consists of Student Current SSN, Student Name,
Student Date of Birth, Student Address, Student Phone Number, OPEID
Number, Move To OPEID, Certification Date, Enrollment Status, Enrollment
Effective Date, Anticipated Completion Date, Term Begin and Term End Date.
 The Program Indicator, under the Campus-Level Record type, indicates whether
a student is enrolled in at least one program.
 Program-Level Enrollment data consist of Student Current SSN, OPEID, CIP
Code, CIP Year, Credential Level, Published Program Length Measurement,
Published Program Length, Weeks in Title IV Academic Year, Program Begin
Date, Special Program Indicator, Program Enrollment Status, Program
Enrollment Effective Date.
 For purposes of enrollment reporting, a unique program is defined as a
combination of the school’s eight-digit OPEID number, the CIP code, the
Credential Level, and the Published Program Length.
 Reporting of graduated statuses is critical to the protection of a student’s
interest subsidy and initiation of repayment periods.
 An auto-conversion occurs when a previously reported school-certified 2000 or
2010 CIP Year program is reported with a 2020 CIP Year (all program identifiers
except CIP Year are identical) to NSLDS.
 Program Identifier Changes can be reported in the Program Identifier Change
Record through Batch Submittal, Spreadsheet Submittal processes, and on the
Enrollment History Update page of the NSLDSFAP website.

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Chapter 5

When to Report?
This chapter describes when Enrollment information should be reported to NSLDS,
defines reporting schedules, and reviews reporting frequency requirements.

5.1 Reporting Timely
While schools are free to set an enrollment reporting schedule that meets their needs,
NSLDS sets minimum standards for the timeframes between Roster generations. NSLDS
allows schools to set their Rosters to be generated weekly, every other week, monthly,
or every other month. A school will not go more than two months without receiving a
Roster file from NSLDS, and will therefore not go more than two months without
reporting enrollment information.
This minimum standard also referred to as the “60-day rule” even though Roster files
may be generated, and schools may ultimately report, less frequently than every 60 days
due to some months have more than 30 days. Nevertheless, if schools comply with the
timeframes for returning responses to Roster files and correcting errors, they are
reporting timely for the purposes of Title IV enrollment reporting regulations and
requirements. However, it is important to note that timely reporting is not the same
thing as accurate reporting, which is also required.

Respond to Roster within 15 days.
Correct errors within 10 days.
Certify enrollment data at least every 60 days.
All schools must respond to their Roster, with certified enrollment data, within 15 days
of the date that NSLDS sends their Roster file (according to their schedule). The
response may be submitted by:
•

Using a batch response file sent via SAIG.

•

Completing updates online using the Enrollment Update option on the
NSLDSFAP website.

•

Uploading an Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal file using the Enrollment
Submittal option on NSLDSFAP.

Schools that report online should adjust their schedule to match their reporting
schedule.
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If the response is provided by a batch response file, NSLDS will process the file and
return an Error/Acknowledgement file. Any errors must be corrected and submitted
within 10 days of receiving the file. Errors may be corrected by:
•

Using a batch response file containing the records with errors sent via SAIG.

•

Updating the records that erred by certifying the enrollment online using the
Enrollment Update option on NSLDSFAP.

•

Uploading corrected records using an Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal file
using the Enrollment Submittal option on NSLDSFAP.

Error correction includes updating the information in error so it will pass the edits and
be processed by NSLDS. Simply resending the same erroneous data does not meet the
requirement to correct errors.
The graphic below describes the sequence of events involved in the Enrollment
Reporting process, from NSLDS creating the Roster, to the school correcting and
resubmitting information on errors in data reported.

NSLDS creates
the
Enrollment
roster
School corrects
errors and
submits updated
records

NSLDS sends
roster to the
school based on
the school’s
schedule

NSLDS sends
Error/
Acknowledgemen
t file to school

School updates
students on roster
and adds new
students
School sends
updated roster to
NSLDS

Figure 5-1: Enrollment Reporting Cycle
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Chapter 5

While reporting according to minimum frequency standards will meet the requirements
for Enrollment Reporting, it is important that changes to a student’s enrollment data be
reported as soon as possible. Timely reporting of changes ensures accuracy of student
information. Such changes may include:
•

Changes in a student’s program of study.

•

Changes in a student’s campus location.

•

Changes in Campus-Level and/or Program-Level enrollment status.

You can report more frequently than is required by scheduling Rosters to be sent to you
on a more frequent basis or by making ad-hoc updates to a student’s enrollment on
NSLDSFAP.

5.2 Special Situations
Waiver Process
A school may apply for a waiver for the Enrollment Reporting process if there are
unusual or unforeseen circumstances, such as a natural disaster, that prevent the
submission of a Roster response within the required 15-day period. A waiver has a start
and an end date; the end date signifies when the Roster cycle will resume. If a waiver is
granted, Rosters will not be generated and, while in effect, the school is not considered
to be out of compliance if the waiver is requested before a previously sent Roster has
exceeded the return timeframe. Schools cannot request an ad-hoc Roster while a waiver
is in effect.
Each waiver request is reviewed by the Department and approved or denied on a caseby-case basis. To request a waiver, please call the NSLDS CSC at 1-800-999-8219, or
email [email protected]. Include with your request an explanation of the events that will
cause you to miss the Enrollment Reporting deadline. Generally, the waiver request is
due to the anticipation that more than one Roster will be missed and must include the
start date and expected end date.

Change in School Eligibility
NSLDS receives school participation eligibility from PEPS. If a school’s eligibility to
participate in Title IV aid changes, it is the school’s responsibility to update all students
on its Enrollment Reporting Roster before discontinuing participation in the Enrollment
Reporting process. Furthermore, a school can choose not to participate in the awarding
of Title IV aid, yet still have its students with federal student loans be eligible to receive
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loan deferments. If a school is eligible for loan deferments only, it must continue to
report enrollment for its students through the Enrollment Reporting process. Final
updates can be made via batch processing or online.

For Schools That Are Closing
Steps to complete the final Enrollment Reporting Roster if your school is closing:
1. The school (or school’s servicer) must update their Roster one final time. All students
need to be updated to the appropriate non-active enrollment status, such as ‘G’, ‘W’,
‘X’, or ‘Z’. If the status is based on the date the school closed, the enrollment status
effective date will be the date the school closed.
A) ‘G’ (graduated): Provide the status effective date of the student’s graduation.
B) ‘W’ (withdrawn): The status effective date should match the date the student
withdrew or the effective date of school’s closure.
C) ‘X’ (never attended): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
D) ‘Z’ (no record found): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
2. Once all updates and any resulting errors have been completed, the school should
contact its PDPA to terminate all online and batch access for the Enrollment
Reporting Process.

For Schools That Are Ineligible
Steps to complete the final Enrollment Reporting Roster if your school is ineligible or
has become ineligible to participate in Title IV aid, and/or is ineligible to participate in
loan deferments only:
1. The school (or school’s servicer) must update their Roster one final time. All students
need to be updated to the appropriate non-active enrollment status, such as ‘G’, ‘W’,
‘X’, or ‘Z’. If the status is based on the date the school became ineligible to
participate, the enrollment status effective date will be the date the school lost
eligibility or stopped participating.
A) ‘G’ (graduated): Provide the status effective date of the student’s graduation.
B) ‘W’ (withdrawn): The status effective date should match the date the student
withdrew or the effective date the school became ineligible.
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C) ‘X’ (never attended): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
D) ‘Z’ (no record found): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
2. Once all updates and any resulting errors have been completed, the school should
contact its PDPA to terminate all online and batch access for the Enrollment
Reporting Process.

For Schools That Are Merging
Steps to complete the final Enrollment Reporting Roster if your school has merged (old
school) with another school (new school):
1. The school (or school’s servicer) must update the Roster one final time. All students
need to be updated to the appropriate non-active enrollment status, such as ‘G’, ‘W’,
‘X’, or ‘Z’, with an enrollment status effective date that is the date of the school’s
merger.
A) ‘G’ (graduated): Provide the status effective date of the student’s graduation.
B) ‘W’ (withdrawn): The status effective date should match the date the student
withdrew or the effective date of school’s merger.
C) ‘X’ (never attended): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
D) ‘Z’ (no record found): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
2. Any student who will continue enrollment at the new school must be added to the
new school Roster with the appropriate enrollment status and the effective date of
the merger.
3. Once all updates and any resulting errors have been completed, the school should
contact its PDPA to terminate all online and batch access for the Enrollment
Reporting process for the old school’s OPEID.

For Schools That Become a New Stand-Alone Entity
Steps to complete regarding Enrollment Reporting if your school has separated from
another school to become a new stand-alone entity:

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1. The school (or school’s servicer) must update the Roster one final time. All currently
enrolled students need to be updated to the appropriate non-active enrollment
status, such as ‘G’, ‘W’, ‘X’, or ‘Z’, with an enrollment status effective date that is the
date of the school’s separation to become the stand-alone entity.
A) ‘G’ (graduated): Provide the status effective date of the student’s graduation.
B) ‘W’ (withdrawn): The status effective date should match the date the student
withdrew or the effective date of that school’s separation to become the
stand-alone entity.
C) ‘X’ (never attended): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
D) ‘Z’ (no record found): The status effective date should match the date the
student was first reported on the Roster.
2. The new stand-alone school needs to sign up using the new OPEID to participate in
NSLDS Enrollment Reporting through fsawebenroll.ed.gov.
3. Students who are currently enrolled and will continue to be enrolled at the new
stand-alone school must be withdrawn from the current school OPEID and added to
the new school’s Enrollment Reporting Roster with the appropriate enrollment status
and effective date.
If you have any questions regarding your responsibilities for Enrollment Reporting,
please call the NSLDS CSC at 1-800-999-8219, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 9
p.m. ET.

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Chapter 5 Key Points to Remember
 Schools are required to report no less than every 60 days.
 Schools must respond with enrollment data certification within 15 days of the
date that the Roster file is sent.
 Any errors must be corrected and submitted within 10 days of receiving the file.
 A school may request a waiver for the Enrollment Reporting process if there are
unusual or unforeseen circumstances, such as a natural disaster, that prevent
the submission of a Roster response within the required 15-day period. If
granted, Rosters will not be generated while in effect.
 Schools that are closing, ineligible, merging, or become a new stand-alone
entity must update all students Enrollment Status in NSLDS to the appropriate
non-active enrollment status, such as ‘G’, ‘W’, ‘X’, or ‘Z’.

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Ways to Report
This chapter discusses the options available for schools to report enrollment information
to the Department. All reporting requirements are the same no matter what reporting
method you choose. However, be aware that batch reporting users are also required to
have online enrollment reporting access. Data elements and file layouts for both
reporting methods are described in detail in the Appendices.

6.1 Enrollment Reporting Online
A fast and easy way to report Enrollment information is by using the National Student
Loan Data System Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website. Many schools use this
method for all their reporting.

Enrollment Update
The Enrollment Update Web page allows for the retrieval of individual student records.
This page also allows for the retrieval and updating of the entire Roster, should you
choose to do so. This page is under the Enroll tab on the NSLDSFAP website.
These pages are discussed in detail Section 7.8.

Enrollment Maintenance
The Enrollment Maintenance Web page is used to provide real-time updates to NSLDS
enrollment data and to add students to a school’s Roster. The Enrollment Maintenance
page is reached from the Enrollment Summary and the Enrollment Update pages under
the Enroll tab on the NSLDSFAP website.
These pages are discussed in detail Section 7.8.

Enrollment History Update
The Enrollment History Update Web page is used to correct previously reported
Campus- and Program-level enrollment data and program identifiers to reestablish
accurate enrollment history for students currently on or previously on of the Enrollment
Reporting Roster.
These pages are discussed in detail Section 7.9.

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Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal
The Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal process allows schools to report data to NSLDS
by uploading a spreadsheet directly on the NSLDSFAP website. This spreadsheet will
use the record types and formats as described in the Appendices. Each record type will
be a separate row in the spreadsheet.
To facilitate this process, schools may request their enrollment Roster to be sent to them
in a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file type. This file can be imported into a school’s
spreadsheet application. The spreadsheet can be updated to provide current
enrollment information and certification for each student, and the spreadsheet can then
be uploaded to the NSLDSFAP website. It will be edited in real-time and any errors will
be presented to the school instantaneously. The accepted records will then update the
NSLDS database.
The Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal process is discussed in Section 7.12.

6.2 Enrollment Reporting Batch Process
The Enrollment Reporting Batch Process involves a school receiving a Roster file on a
predetermined, set schedule, updating that file, and returning it to NSLDS.
The Enrollment Reporting Roster file is placed in a school’s, or its Enrollment Reporting
Servicer’s, designated SAIG mailbox on the business day of the month designated by
their Enrollment Reporting schedule. Schools may set up and modify their schedule on
the Enrollment Reporting Profile Web page under the Enroll Tab on the NSLDSFAP
website. Schools that use an Enrollment Reporting Servicer should notify their servicer
directly if they make a change to their enrollment reporting schedule.
Files submitted by batch processes will receive an Error/Acknowledgement File that
contains a count of accepted records and any records containing errors that did not
pass edits for the update. If the Error/Acknowledgment File does not indicate that there
were any errors, it serves as proof that the submittal file was received and processed by
NSLDS and should be kept for audit purposes. The Error/Acknowledgement File will
indicate that there were no errors if it contains only a header and trailer record.
Note: If a school does not receive an Error/Acknowledgement File it may indicate
that file was not received or processed by NSLDS.
If the Error/Acknowledgement file indicates that there were errors, the error records
must be corrected by submitting an Error Correction File, or by updating the student’s
record online or using the spreadsheet upload option Error correction includes updating
the information in error so it will pass the edits and be processed by NSLDS. Simply
resending the same erroneous data does not meet the requirement to correct errors.
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Because NSLDS rejects all records for a student if there is an error in any detail record,
an error means that a student’s enrollment status has not been updated on NSLDS.
Note: Schools that use third-party servicers must ensure that any error corrections or
updates made online on the NSLDS website by the school are also provided to the
servicer, to prevent the servicer from later updating NSLDS with outdated or
incorrect data.

Batch File Types
Schools (or their servicers) can request Roster files in the following file types:
•

Fixed-Width

•

Comma Separated Values (CSV)

Schools using the CSV format to report enrollment data must make sure that any
commas in the data they submit (that are not used as delimiters) are inside quotation
marks. For example, a last name of Jones, Jr., should appear in a CSV file as “Jones,Jr.”,
with the quotation marks, and with a comma immediately following the closed
quotation mark to delimit the field. Records that contain data with commas not
protected by quotation marks will be rejected by NSLDS.
See Appendix A and the record layouts on the Knowledge Center for more details on
the file types and format.

Record Types
NSLDS Enrollment Reporting File Layouts include multiple record types in order to
accommodate the additional reporting fields necessary to support a number of
functions like program oversight, measurement of program outcomes, processing of
Closed School Discharge and the metrics included in the College Scorecard.
The following record types are included in the batch Roster files, both the Roster sent
from NSLDS to the school, and the response file sent by the school back to NSLDS:
•

Record Type ‘000’ – Header Record

•

Record Type ‘001’ – Campus-Level Enrollment Information

•

Record Type ‘002’ – Program-Level Enrollment Information

•

Record Type ‘003’ – Email Address (Optional)

•

Record Type ‘004’ – Program Identifier Changes (Optional)

•

Record Type ‘999’ – Trailer Record

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There will be a single Header Record (record type ‘000’) and single Trailer Record (record
type ‘999’) on each file. The number of other record types will vary based on the details
reported for each student. These records are referred to as Detail Records and will be
reported together, for each student in a single bundle.

Bundle Concept
A single update for a student at a given school location will consist of a bundle of Detail
Records including:
•

One Campus-Level record (record type ‘001’) containing student and CampusLevel information (required).

•

Zero, one, or more Program-Level Records (record type ‘002’) containing
information about that student’s enrollment in individual programs and
information about those programs (generally required).

•

Zero, one, or more Email Address records (record type ‘003’) containing
information about the student’s email address(es) (Optional).

•

Zero, one, or more Program Identifier Change records (record type ‘004’)
containing program identifiers for current and new programs (Optional).

All records in a bundle must all have the same values for Student Current SSN and
OPEID in the layout of each detail record type. When a school sends a Roster Submittal
or Error Correction file to NSLDS, the school must group the records for a given student
in a single bundle ordered by record type. Likewise, a school should expect the
Enrollment Roster and Error/Acknowledgement files they receive from NSLDS to bundle
records for individual students.
Note: All records in a file must be sorted by SSN, so all record types for a particular
student will be grouped together in the file.

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Header ‘000’ Record

Student A ‘001’ Record (Campus-Level)
Student A ‘002’ Record (Program-Level)

Student A’s bundle of records

Student A ‘003’ Record (Email Address)

Student B ‘001’ Record (Campus-Level)
Student B ‘002’ Record (Program-Level)
Student B ‘002’ Record (Program-Level)

If student is enrolled in multiple programs, report one
‘002’ record for each program

Student B ‘003’ Record (Email Address)

Student C ‘001’ Record (Campus-Level)
Student C ‘002’ Record (Program-Level)
Student C ‘003’ Record (Email Address)

Reporting of the ‘003’ email record type is optional

Student D ‘001’ Record (Campus-Level)
Student D ‘002’ Record (Program-Level)
Student D ‘003’ Record (Email Address)

If the ‘004’ record is included, report the ‘002’ record
for the current program

Student D ‘004’ Record (Program Identifier
Change)

Trailer ‘999’ Record

Figure 6-1: Bundle Format Example
Because each student’s enrollment will consist of multiple detail records, a valid detail
record of one type will be rejected by NSLDS because of an error in another detail
record in the same student’s bundle. Each detail record type in the new layout will
include a field named Bundle Rejected Flag. That flag will be set to ‘Y’ for all the detail
records in a bundle that contain an error, although the actual error(s) code will only be
displayed on the detail record that contains the error(s).
If the only record in a bundle with an error is a ‘003’ Email Address record, the entire
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bundle will still be returned on the error file. However, the valid 001 Campus-Level and
‘002’ Program-Level detail records are included in the bundle, they will be processed,
and the Bundle Rejected Flag on the valid records will contain a space.
If a ‘004’ Program Identifier Change record is reported, the current program details must
be included in the ‘002’ Program-Level record.
The reporting requirements (Mandatory/Optional) for each field are listed in Appendix
B. Please note that for record type ‘001’ (Campus-Level), the student’s phone number
fields are considered optional, however, if a phone number is reported all associated
fields must be populated. Additionally, the ‘003’ (Email Address) and ‘004’ (Program
Identifier Changes) record types are optional records, but if any data is included in the
record, then all fields in the record need to be populated accordingly.
The same record types are used in the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal process.
Note: All Program-Level ‘002’ records for each bundle on the Roster must be
certified and returned in each response file. If a Program-Level record is not returned
or when records in a bundle do not contain all school certified programs, NSLDS will
reject the bundle.

Adding Students to Your Roster
Students that are not on the Roster but have received federal student aid (at your school
or another school) may be added to your batch file, reported by using the Enrollment
Maintenance page, the spreadsheet upload or Roster Options on the NSLDSFAP
website. The student identifiers in the added records must match the student identifiers
on NSLDS. Students cannot be added to NSLDS unless a current loan or grant is on the
database. If a data provider has not reported a loan or Pell Grant to NSLDS and the
school tries to add the record in a batch process, the student record will be rejected on
the Submittal File or Error Correction File. Likewise, if the student is not in the database
they cannot be added to a Roster on the NSLDSFAP website.

Student Identifiers and Data Conflicts
You must be certain that you have a legitimate match of identifiers when reporting
enrollment on a student. One or more of the student identifiers provided by NSLDS may
differ from the information in your school records. If you are sure your data is correct
based on a reliable source and/or documentation on file, you must contact the data
provider (GA, lender, lender/servicer, or federal loan servicer for each loan) to which you
are conflicting with and work with the provider to make the necessary changes. If you
cannot resolve the discrepancy with the data provider, you may contact the NSLDS
Customer Support Center (CSC) at 1-800-999-8219, Option 3. You will need to provide
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copies of certain legal documents to make changes.
The student identifiers are as follows:

Student Identifiers

Student Current SSN (Record Identifier)

Student Date of Birth (Record Identifier)

Student Current First Name (Record Identifier)

Student Current Last Name

OPEID of Reporting School

Figure 6-2: Student Identifiers
Schools that do not use the student SSN to identify student registration records may
provide NSLDS with their Student Designator. NSLDS will not remove or change the
Student Designator, which can be provided via batch file or online, so it may be used in
later Enrollment Reporting Roster files to match records easily. You must not change the
SSN provided by NSLDS.

Enrollment Administration
Schools are required to certify enrollment using the appropriate eight-digit Office of
Postsecondary Education Identification (OPEID) number. To assist with the reporting of
enrollment at eight-digit OPEID-level, NSLDS has established an Enrollment
Administration option that allows locations that share the same main campus school
code to establish an “administrator” location that will report for its own and other
locations.

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A school that chooses to manage multiple location reporting will have the option to
receive individual eight-digit OPEID Roster files (one for each additional location of the
school) or a combined Roster for multiple locations in one file. Each student record will
include the eight-digit OPEID where the student is attending. Schools will establish their
Enrollment Reporting profile using dedicated screens on the NSLDSFAP website.
Each location that certifies enrollment must be signed up for the Enrollment Reporting
process through FSAWebenroll.ed.gov. Reporting a student’s enrollment at the main
campus does not satisfy the enrollment reporting requirement if aid was disbursed or
the student was physically attending school at a different location.

Reporting Enrollment for Distance Education Programs
There are special considerations for distance education programs in Enrollment
Reporting. Per Department of Education policy, the definition of distance education
requires the use of technology to support "regular and substantive interaction between
the students and the faculty." The technologies may include:
•

The Internet;

•

One-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit,
cable, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices;

•

Audio conferencing; or

•

Video cassettes, DVDs, and CD–ROMs

The school must have a policy for determining a student’s enrollment status and use
that policy as the basis of its enrollment reporting. Enrollment Reporting to NSLDS must
be based on the regular and substantive interaction between students and the faculty
for students in distance education courses. For example, a school may have a policy that
includes having the faculty member or an academic support staff member reach out to
an online student after the initial week of non-attendance to determine the cause and
remind the student that he or she needs to be regularly engaged in the course to be
successful. If the student does not re-engage in the course, then the message could
become more urgent, notifying the student of possible consequences of his or her nonengagement.
Allowing a student to go for several weeks without such interaction raises concerns that
the school is inadequately monitoring student behavior. Therefore, changes in the
student’s enrollment status based solely upon the number of times a student logs into a
website is insufficient to determine the student’s attendance, or lack of attendance, in a
class.

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6.3 Enrollment Supplemental Submittal File
The Enrollment Supplemental Submittal file provides schools with the option to report
outside of their established NSLDS Roster schedule. The Supplemental file will allow
schools to provide off-schedule updates aligned with their academic calendars (e.g.,
Graduations, late registration, and add or drop deadline dates).
The Supplemental Submittal files are submitted in the same manner as the Batch
Process. The Supplemental Submittal file can be submitted in both fixed-width and
comma-separated values (CSV) file format.
NSLDS processes the Supplemental Submittal file in the same manner as the existing
Enrollment Reporting file with two exceptions. First, a school must indicate the file is a
Supplemental Submittal file by entering ‘NSLDS ENRL SUPPLEMENTAL’ in the Header
Label field and ‘S’ in the File Type of the Enrollment Reporting File Header Record, as
shown in the fixed-width Enrollment Reporting File Header Record layout below.
Second, unlike regular Roster files, Supplemental Submittal files will not generate an
Error/Acknowledgement File.

Figure 6-3: Enrollment Supplemental Submittal file
Although an Error/Acknowledgement file is not returned, schools may confirm receipt of the
Supplemental Submittal file on the Enrollment Submittal Tracking page. Additionally,
Supplemental Submittals will not count as roster responses for the purpose of
determining Late Roster notifications. See Chapter 8 for more information about the
Enrollment Submittal Tracking page and Late Roster notifications.

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Chapter 6 Key Points to Remember
 Schools have the option to report enrollment information to the Department
either on the NSLDSFAP website or the Enrollment Reporting Batch Process.
 Batch reporting users are required to have online enrollment reporting access.
 Students cannot be added to NSLDS unless a current loan or grant is on the
database.
 The Enrollment Administration option allows school locations that share the
same main campus school code to establish an “administrator” location that
will report for its own and other locations.
 A school that chooses to manage multiple location reporting will have the
option to receive individual eight-digit OPEID Roster files (one for each
additional location of the school) or a combined Roster for multiple locations in
one file.
 Each location that certifies enrollment must be signed up for the Enrollment
Reporting process through FSAWebenroll.ed.gov.
 Supplemental Submittal files can be used to send enrollment changes in a
timelier manner and will not return an Error Acknowledgement file to the
school or their third-party servicer.
 Supplemental Submittal files will not count as roster responses for the purpose
of determining Late Roster notifications.

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How to Report?
This chapter describes how to sign up for access to SAIG and the National Student Loan
Data System Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) website. It also provides an overview of
the Enrollment Reporting process (online and batch), and the NSLDSFAP website.

7.1 Reporting Online
The NSLDSFAP website allows you to update enrollment information by using one of
three methods. The Enrollment Update page allows for the retrieval of individual
students or the entire Roster, while the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal process
provides the capability to upload a spreadsheet file. Additionally, the Enrollment History
Update page allows for the correction of previously reported Campus- and Programlevel enrollment for an individual student. The school must have access to both online
and batch reporting functions to report enrollment.

You can enroll for access to the NSLDSFAP website
at fsawebenroll.ed.gov
7.2 How to Sign Up
The electronic exchange of information through the Enrollment Reporting process is
done using SAIG. A school must set up a designated mailbox to receive electronic files
as well as establish at least one person at the school who will perform online updates.
Each user must have his or her own FSA User ID to access NSLDS enrollment update
features. Additionally, a person from each location that is involved with students who
have received financial aid may need access as well. To apply for batch and online
enrollment reporting access, go to fsawebenroll.ed.gov.

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Figure 7-1: SAIG Enrollment Site
The Primary Destination Point Administrator (PDPA) for the organization must complete
the application for the batch process and request online access with enrollment update
functionality. The PDPA must also enforce the security requirements as outlined in the
SAIG User Statement including the completion and maintenance of this statement. Your
President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Chancellor/designee/equivalent person must
approve each designated individual that applies for NSLDS online access.
After you have applied through fsawebenroll.ed.gov, you will be assigned an FSA User
ID for online access. Each person involved in reviewing student data must have their
own FSA User ID. The ID must not be shared. The Rules of Behavior and Privacy Act
statement presented during login outlines the appropriate uses of all Federal Student
Aid Systems including the NSLDSFAP website and the consequences of inappropriate
actions.
For additional information or assistance with the sign-up process, call CPS/SAIG
Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or send an email to
[email protected].
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Enrollment Reporting Process
The Enrollment Reporting process for batch and online is described in detail below,
designating the responsible party for each step in the process:
1. NSLDS:
A. Adds students with new loans or grants to the portfolio of the enrollment
school OPEID as reported by the school on the disbursement record sent by
the school to COD.
B. Compiles all students in the school’s portfolio, including new records from
COD, previously certified still active records, students added because of loan
records with updated school codes, and Perkins Loan records.
C. Generates the Enrollment Reporting Roster file of the students in the portfolio
for the school or schools based on the NSLDS Enrollment Profile page,
“Enrollment Reporting Preferences, Administration Setup and Schedule”.
D. Forwards the Enrollment Reporting Roster file to the school or its servicer
through the SAIG mailbox.
2. School (or administrator or servicer):
A. Receives the Enrollment Reporting Roster file(s).
B. Matches the Enrollment Reporting Roster file with registration records.
C. Updates the Enrollment Reporting Roster file with any changes to each
student’s enrollment status, status effective date, or anticipated completion
date fields.
D. Provides correct location code if student is attending a different location.
E. Provides student’s permanent address information.
F. Adds the optional fields of term begin and end dates.
G. Provides a credential level for those students with a graduated enrollment
status.
H. Adds detail records for each new student.
I.

Reviews the updated file for valid data to eliminate errors.

J. Returns the updated Enrollment Reporting Roster file, now the Submittal file,
within 15 days with an appropriate certification date to NSLDS.

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K. Alternatively, goes online at NSLDSFAP and uses one of the online functions
(update, add, spreadsheet submittal) to certify enrollment for its students. No
roster file will need to be returned.
3. NSLDS:
A. Receives the Submittal file.
B. Edits (error-checks) the Submittal file contents. If enrollment is updated
online, edits occur as entries are made.
C. Updates the NSLDS database with enrollment data.
D. Returns the Error/Acknowledgment file (containing any rejected records or
just the header and trailer if there were no errors) for any file submitted via
batch.
E. Forwards new and/or changed data to each affected loan holder (GAs, federal
loan servicers, lenders/lender servicers, and Perkins Loan schools/servicers).
4. School (or servicer):
A. Receives and saves the Error/Acknowledgment file, and reviews any error
records, if applicable.
B. Returns the corrected records, from the Error/Acknowledgement file, to
NSLDS as an Error Correction File (batch/SAIG) or make updates at NSLDSFAP
using one of the online functions (update, add, or spreadsheet submittal)
within 10 days of the date it is sent to the school (or servicer).
C. If no Errors were returned the cycle is complete, all records have been
accepted by NSLDS.
Note: Schools that use servicers must ensure that any error corrections or updates
made online by the school, on the NSLDS website, are also provided to the servicer to
prevent the servicer from later updating NSLDS with out of date or incorrect data.
5. NSLDS:
A. Receives the returned Error Correction File and repeats step 3.
Error correction requires the school or servicer to update the information that errored so
it will pass the edits and be processed by NSLDS. Simply resending the same erroneous
data does not meet the requirement to correct errors.
Note: When error corrections are not completed, the enrollment record is not updated
on the NSLDS database or distributed to the loan holders.
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7.3 Listing an Enrollment Reporting Contact
NSLDS provides a Contact List under the Org tab on the NSLDSFAP website for all
organizations involved in Title IV aid. This list is completely controlled by the
organization and is used to assist individuals and NSLDS in finding the appropriate
contact at the organization, for various subject areas.
Each school is required to have at least an Enrollment Reporting Contact and a Primary
Contact on the NSLDSFAP website for important communications from NSLDS.
To update the Enrollment Reporting Contact and the Primary Contact of an organization
(or any other contact that needs to be updated):
•

Login to the NSLDSFAP website and access the Org tab.

•

The Org Contact List will display with an “Add New Contact” selection option.

•

To change a contact listed, click on the number beside the function to view the
contact detail and update the information.

It is important that a school periodically check its listed contacts to ensure they are
current.

7.4 Navigating NSLDSFAP
The Navigation Bar is directly below the Navigation Tabs, and includes links to the other
pages within the section. Your name and your school’s name appear below the links.
There are also icons and symbols to help you. Here is a list of what you might see.

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Legend of Icons and Symbols

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Figure 7-2: Legend of Icons and Symbols

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7.5 Using NSLDSFAP Online
When you initiate your session on the NSLDSFAP website by logging on at the
https://nsldsfap.ed.gov/nslds_FAP/default.jsp address, the Click to Continue page
displays. Click the button to connect to the FSA login page and enter your FSA User ID
and password. Once your identity is authenticated, you will be taken to the Organization
selection page associated with your FSA User ID. If your ID is for multiple schools, select
the location for which you want access for this session.

Figure 7-3: NSLDS Professional Access website after login
After correctly entering the image on the User Access Verification page, you will reach
the main Menu Page.

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Figure 7-4: NSLDSFAP Menu

7.6 Enrollment Reporting
Schools have the ability to report enrollment data to NSLDS by batch or online
submission. For batch reporting, Comma Separated Values (CSV) and Fixed-Width
options are available. For online submission, the Online Update function and the
Spreadsheet Submittal are available. The following figure depicts these options.

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Enrollment Reporting Options

Batch

Comma
Separated
Values (CSV)

Online

Fixed-Width

Online Update

Spreadsheet
Submittal

Figure 7-5: Enrollment Reporting Options
A similar process exists for the two reporting methods. The following table is a quick
reference presenting the various steps in the reporting process and how each step can
be completed for batch or online reporting.
NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process
Batch
Receive
· Check SAIG mailbox.
Enrollment
· Download Enrollment
Reporting Roster Reporting Roster file.
File

Online
· Login to NSLDSFAP website and
select Enrollment Update.
· Retrieve school’s Enrollment
Reporting Roster (or selected
records).
· Edit and certify enrollment
records on Enrollment

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NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process

Update Roster
File

Batch

Online

· Match Enrollment Reporting
Roster file with in-house
database.
· Edit Enrollment Reporting
Roster file using a mainframe,
program, or other software.

Maintenance page and submit.

Return Submittal · Send Submittal File to NSLDS
File
via SAIG.

· Errors display on Enrollment
Maintenance page.
· Correct errors displayed and
certify changes.
· Submit and confirm.
OR
·Login to NSLDSFAP website and
select Enrollment Submittal and
upload your spreadsheet.

Receive
· Check SAIG mailbox for
Acknowledgment Error/Acknowledgment File.
/ Error File
· Download
Error/Acknowledgment file.

· Login to NSLDSFAP website and
use Enrollment Update.
· For Enrollment Update
-

Use Advanced Search Option

“Certification Date End.”
- Enter the day before your
batch certification date to
retrieve all records that were not
updated by the last batch file.
Correct Error File

· Match Error/Acknowledgment
file to in-house database.
· Edit Error/Acknowledgment
file using a mainframe
program, or other software.
· Save as Error Correction File.
OR

- Retrieve list and update
records.
-

Submit and confirm.

OR
· Login to NSLDSFAP website and
select Enrollment Submittal and
upload your spreadsheet.

· Create a spreadsheet for
submittal on NSLDSFAP.

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NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process
Batch
Return Error
Correction File

Online

· Send Error Correction File to
SAIG mailbox.
Table 7-1: NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Process

The remainder of this section is organized to address the main aspects of Online and
Batch Enrollment reporting in order to assist you with reporting the enrollment status of
your students to NSLDS.

7.7 Enrollment Reporting Online
The Online Enrollment Reporting process involves using the NSLDSFAP website and its
corresponding pages to report enrollment. This chapter will provide information to
assist you with reporting the enrollment status of your students to NSLDS.

NSLDSFAP Website Enrollment Reporting Key
Pages
The Enroll (Enrollment) Tab on the NSLDSFAP website is the access point to the
following enrollment related pages:
•

Enrollment Summary—Enter a student’s identifiers; SSN, first name and date of
birth (DOB) to view. This page displays an overview of the student’s most recent
enrollment status at each school where enrollment has been reported for that
student. On this page you can also link to Enrollment Detail, Program
Enrollment Detail, Enrollment Timeline, Subsidized Usage, Maximum
Eligibility Timeline, Enrollment Maintenance, and Enrollment Push to Roster.

•

Enrollment Update—Select a student or a range of students and re-certify
current data or make changes to the enrollment information. You can choose
which students to retrieve and how they are to be sorted—by name, SSN, schooldesignated identifier, campus enrollment status, or program enrollment data. The
default setting displays all students associated with your school, 15 at a time, per
page.

•

Enrollment History Update—Select a student to make changes to historical
enrollment or program identifier information. You can select the Location where

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a student is attending or has previously attended for historical enrollment
information or program identifier changes to be applied.
•

Enrollment Reporting Profile—Manage preferences for reporting files,
administration authority, view or modify your current enrollment schedule, create
a new schedule, or request an ad hoc Enrollment Reporting Roster file to be sent
to your school. From this page you can also access the Enrollment Reporting
Statistics page and the ‘Certifications by Quarter’ web report. If your school
participates in the Perkins Loan program and would like to receive enrollment
notification files, that request is also made from this page.

Keep your enrollment contact information up to date on
the Organization Contact List page!
The Org (Organization) Tab on the NSLDSFAP website is another important page to
keep updated. On the Organization Contact List, be sure to keep the Primary Contact
and the Enrollment Reporting Contact up to date. The Late Enrollment Reporting
Notification email will be sent to these contacts as well as to the President or CEO of
your organization, if your Enrollment Reporting is past due. It is important to keep
contacts updated and email contact roles current.

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Figure 7-6: Organization Contact List

Viewing Enrollment Data for a Student
The following five enrollment pages allow users to view the enrollment records that
NSLDS has for a student:
•

Enrollment Summary—Provides an overview of a student’s most recent status at
every school where enrollment has been reported for that student.

•

Enrollment Detail—Gives the full details of a student’s enrollment information at
each school attended as reported to NSLDS.

•

Program Enrollment Detail—Gives the full details of a student’s program
enrollment information at each school attended as reported to NSLDS.

•

Enrollment Timeline—Displays a chronology of a student’s enrollment status
and allows users to check a student’s status at a particular point in time to see
what status was in effect for that period.

•

Maximum Eligibility Timeline—Displays a chronology of a student’s enrollment
status and allows users to check a student’s status at a particular point in time to

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see what status was in effect for that period.
The following sections explain how to use these five options.

Enrollment Summary: Selecting a Student to View
To view a student’s enrollment records, you must first search the database for that
student.
1. On the NSLDSFAP website Menu page, look for the Enrollment section and click

Enrollment Summary. The Enrollment Summary—No Student Selected page will
appear (Figure 7-7: Enrollment Summary). You can also reach the Enrollment Summary
page at any time by clicking the Enroll tab.

Figure 7-7: Enrollment Summary
2. Type in student’s identifying information into the corresponding boxes at the top of
the page:
•

SSN

•

First Name

•

DOB

3. Click Retrieve. The Enrollment Summary page redisplays with the student’s latest
enrollment information. The information presented is provided to NSLDS by schools
and loan holders for the student selected.
If the student has attended more than one school, each school’s enrollment summary
information is displayed on a separate line. If the student has attended, or is attending, a
school that has not certified enrollment; the school will be displayed with the enrollment
information provided by the GA or federal loan servicer.

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Figure 7-8: Enrollment Summary
The page also displays the following buttons:
•

Enrollment Detail—displays the Enrollment Detail page, where you can view the
full details of a student’s enrollment information at each school attended.

•

Program Enrollment Detail—displays the Program Enrollment Detail page,
where you can view the full details of a student’s program enrollment information
at each school attended.

•

Enrollment Timeline—displays the Enrollment Timeline page, which shows a
chronology of a student’s enrollment status and allows you to check a student’s
status at a particular point in time.

•

Subsidized Usage—displays the Subsidized Usage page, where you can view
details of a student’s program enrollment at each school attended. It also shows
a student’s subsidized usage information in accordance with the 150% Subsidized
Loan Limit.

•

Maximum Eligibility Timeline—displays a chronological full history of a
student's subsidized usage and eligibility as subject to the Direct Subsidized
usage limits. This page is intended to help users understand when and why
events such as loss of subsidy or reinstatement of subsidy took place, and shows
the information the events are determined by, including Direct Subsidized loan
awards, and Program enrollment information.

•

Enrollment Maintenance—displays the Enrollment Maintenance page, where
you can make changes to the student’s enrollment information.

•

Enrollment Push to Roster—displays the Enrollment Push to Roster page which
allows you or a data provider to “push” the retrieved student to another school’s

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Enrollment Roster the next time it is generated. This functionality is useful for
when a student transfers to another school, the current school can “push” the
student to the new school's roster, to ensure there is no interruption in
enrollment reporting.

Enrollment Summary: A Closer Look
Enrollment Summary provides a quick overview of a student’s most recent status at
every school where enrollment has been reported for that student. Whenever possible,
the Enrollment Summary page displays enrollment information reported by schools. It
only displays information reported by GAs or the federal loan servicers when they have
reported on a particular student, but the school has not.
The Enrollment Summary page contains the following information:
•

School Name—the name of the school at which enrollment was reported for the
student. Click on the school name to link to the school’s Organization Contact
List page. If the student’s enrollment was not reported by the school, a small
warning icon appears after the school’s name.

•

OPEID—the combination of the 6-digit school code and the 2-digit school
location code. If a school has more than 99 locations, the first digit of the OPEID
is then incremented to 1. If more than 199 locations, the first digit is then
incremented to 2, and so forth. (Examples: location 00 = 06789900, location 101
= 16789901, location 202 = 26789902)

•

Most Recent Status—the status most recently reported for the student at that
school. Users wanting to view the full history of a student’s status at one or more
schools should navigate to the Enrollment Detail page.
−

•

NSLDS displays an enrollment status of “Moved” when a school has used
the “Move To” function to report the student at a different location.

Eff. Date—the Effective Date is the date when the most recently reported
enrollment status took effect. For example, if the student completed their course
of study on 03/01/2014, the school will report the enrollment status of G with an
effective date of 03/01/2014.
The following special rules apply:
−

NSLDS sets the Effective Date equal to the Certification Date for
Enrollment Status ‘X’ (Never Attended) or ‘Z’ (No Record Found) when it is
not reported by the school.

−

NSLDS sets the Effective Date equal to 12/31/9999 when it is not reported
by the school for records with an Enrollment Status of ‘D’ (Deceased).

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•

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ACD—the Anticipated Completion Date is the date when the student has
completed, or is expected to complete, his or her studies. The following special
rules apply:
−

Anticipated Completion Date is not required for Enrollment Status ‘X’
(Never Attended), ‘Z’ (No Record Found), ‘W’ (Withdrawn), and ‘L’ (Less
Than Half Time). Providing an ACD with the status ‘L’ will be required with
the fixed width and CSV record layouts.

−

NSLDS sets the Anticipated Completion Date to 12/31/9999 for Enrollment
Status ‘D’ (Deceased).

−

NSLDS sets the Anticipated Completion Date equal to the Effective Date
for Enrollment Status ‘G’ (Graduated).

•

Cert. Date—the Certification Date is the date a school certified the enrollment
information.

•

Cert. Method—the Certification Method shows the method the school used to
certify the enrollment information. The following methods are used:
−

School Batch—the school certified the enrollment information through the
batch Enrollment Reporting process. This includes files submitted by a
Servicer on behalf of a school.

−

NSLDS Web—the school certified the enrollment information using one of
the following methods:


Enrollment Maintenance page—this page is reached from the
Enrollment Summary and Enrollment Update pages



Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal



Enrollment History Update page

−

ED Authorized—NSLDS certified enrollment information when students
are affected by a school’s closure, merger, or loss of eligibility.

−

Clearinghouse Contract—Certified enrollment information from schools
that use the Clearinghouse as their enrollment servicer.


−

Note: In the past, the National Student Clearinghouse provided the
school certification in response to a student borrower list
containing ED held loans, in addition to the responses that were
provided with a scheduled school Roster.

N/A—the enrollment information has not been certified by the school.

Sources other than schools do not certify enrollment data. If an Enrollment
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Summary record is based on non-school data, the Cert. Date and Cert. Method boxes
for that record will display ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable). Only school certified records are
considered “actionable” by the Department. This means, it is the school data that
drives the servicing activities for a student borrower.

Enrollment Detail
The Enrollment Detail page allows schools and loan holders to view the full record of
student Campus-Level Enrollment reported to NSLDS. There are two ways to view
Enrollment Detail on the Enrollment Summary page:
1. If the student has one or more schools listed, click the active bullet number next to
the school whose records you wish to see (Figure 7-8: Enrollment Summary) or
2. To view all schools listed, click Enrollment Detail.
The Enrollment Detail page appears (Figure 7-9: Enrollment Detail). The detail
information you selected is shown in the table at the bottom of the page.

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Figure 7-9: Enrollment Detail
To return to the Enrollment Summary page, click the blue arrow in the upper left corner
of the Enrollment Detail page.

Using Advanced Display Options for Enrollment Detail
Advanced Display Options, located in the center of the Enrollment Detail page, allow
you to limit or expand the number of enrollment records displayed on the page. This
may be useful when a student has many enrollment detail records and you need to see,
for example, only records from a specific school or within a certain date range. You can
also choose how the enrollment data are sorted. For example, you can sort by Effective
Date, 8-digit OPEID, or Anticipated Completion Date; depending on your needs.
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To use this feature:
1. Select the options you wish to use by clicking on the corresponding lists and clicking
the desired value. You can also type in the Begin Effective Date and/or End Effective
Date.
2. Click Apply. The Enrollment Detail page will appear again, showing only the records
you specified using Advanced Display Options.
The following Advanced Display Options are available:
•

Enrollment At— allows you to select enrollment information about all the
schools the student has attended or about an individual school identified by
name and 8-digit OPEID.

•

Show Records—allows you to select which records to view:

•

−

All Active and Inactive—allows you to view a complete record of the
enrollment information that was reported to NSLDS and when it was
reported. If you select this option, you should distinguish between active
records (which contain current information about a student’s enrollment
history), and inactive records (which contain enrollment information
previously reported to NSLDS which is no longer current).

−

Active Only—active records collectively constitute NSLDS’ current
understanding of a student’s enrollment history. (Inactive records contain
enrollment information that was reported to NSLDS at some time in the
past but was corrected later.) Showing all active records allows you to view
a complete record of a student’s enrollment history in the NSLDS
database.

−

Active Only, Changes Only, Earliest Certified—allows you to view only
active records that contain a change in Enrollment Status, Effective Date,
or Anticipated Completion Date from the previous record reported to
NSLDS. If you select this option, records containing such changes are
displayed together with the first Certification Date on which they took
effect.

−

Active Only, Changes Only, Latest Certified (Default Setting)—allows you
to view only active records that contain a change in Enrollment Status,
Effective Date, or Anticipated Completion Date from the previous record
reported to NSLDS. If you select this option, records containing such
changes are displayed together with the last Certification Date on which
they were in effect.

Reported By—allows you to display only the enrollment information reported by

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specific types of organizations.

•

•

−

All—allows you to view information reported by both schools and nonschool organizations.

−

Schools (Default Setting)—allows you to view only information reported by
schools.

−

Non-Schools—allows you to view only information reported by GAs and
federal loan servicers.

Sort Schools By—allows you to select the order in which the schools the student
attended are displayed on the page.
−

OPEID (Default Setting)—presents the schools in numerical order by their
8-digit OPEID number.

−

Name—presents the schools in alphabetical order by the school name.

−

Merge Schools—combines enrollment information from all the schools the
student attended in a single table.

Sort Records By—allows you to select the order in which records, for a student’s
enrollment at a given school, are displayed.
−

Reported By, Certification Date (Default Setting)—performs a primary sort
on Reported By and a secondary sort on Certification Date.

−

Reported By, Effective Date—performs a primary sort on Reported By and
a secondary sort on Effective Date.

−

Reported By, Anticipated Completion Date—performs a primary sort on
Reported By and a secondary sort on Anticipated Completion Date.

−

Date Received—performs a single sort on the date when NSLDS received
the information. This sort is the only sort that mixes records reported by
schools with records reported by GAs and other organizations. It can help
to determine the order in which enrollment information was reported to
NSLDS, regardless of the effective date.

•

Begin Effective Date—allows you to display only records with an Effective Date
later than or equal to the date you enter.

•

End Effective Date—allows you to display only records with an Effective Date
earlier than or equal to the date you enter.

Enrollment Detail: A Closer Look
The Enrollment Detail table (located at the bottom of the Enrollment Detail page)
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displays the following information for each enrollment record that matches the
Advanced Display Options you selected:
•

School Name and OPEID—the name and OPEID of the school where enrollment
has been reported for a student. This information normally displays on a separate
row that divides the records for enrollment at one school from the records for
enrollment at another school. When you select Merge Schools as the option for
Sort Schools By, schools’ 8-digit OPEIDs display in a single column at the left side
of the Enrollment Detail table.

•

Reported By—identifies the type of organization that reported the enrollment
information.

•

Reported By ID—contains the organizational code, such as the OPEID or GA
number, for the organization that reported the enrollment information.

•

Status—the student’s enrollment status.

•

•

−

Includes students with enrollment statuses of ‘F’ (full-time), ‘Q’ (quartertime), ‘H’ (half-time), ‘L’ (less than half-time), ‘A’ (leave of absence), ‘G’
(graduated), ‘W’ (withdrawn), ‘D’ (deceased), ‘X’ (never attended), or ‘Z’ (no
record found).

−

NSLDS displays an enrollment status of “Moved” when a school has
reported the student at a different location.

Eff. Date—the Effective Date is the date when the reported status change took
effect. The following special rules apply:
−

NSLDS sets the Effective Date equal to the Certification Date for
Enrollment Status ‘X’ (Never Attended) or ‘Z’ (No Record Found) when it is
not reported by the school.

−

NSLDS sets the Effective Date equal to 12/31/9999 when it is not reported
by the school for records with Enrollment Status ‘D’ (Deceased).

−

Example: Student completed their course of study on 03/01/2014;
therefore, their school will report the enrollment status as G with an
effective date of 03/01/2014.

Active—an identifier that indicates whether a record reflects a valid enrollment
status in the NSLDS database.
−

Yes—indicates that the record is active.

−

No—Indicates that the record is no longer active. This means the record
contains enrollment information that was reported to NSLDS at some
point in the past but was subsequently corrected by a later submission. For

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example, a student was reported with a full-time status beginning
September 30, but the school subsequently reported that the full-time
status was effective July 30. The September 30 record will be coded with
‘N’.
•

ACD—the Anticipated Completion Date, which is the date when the student
completed, or is expected to complete, his or her studies. The following special
rules apply:
−

Anticipated Completion Date is not valid for Enrollment Status ‘X’ (Never
Attended), ‘Z’ (No Record Found), and ‘W’ (Withdrawn).

−

NSLDS sets the Anticipated Completion Date to 12/31/9999 for Enrollment
Status ‘D’ (Deceased).

−

NSLDS sets the Anticipated Completion Date equal to the Effective Date
for Enrollment Status ‘G’ (Graduated).

•

Cert. Date—the Certification Date is the date as of which the school certified the
enrollment information to be accurate.

•

Cert. Method—the NSLDSFAP website will display the Certification Method used
by the school to certify the enrollment information as one of the following
methods:
−

School Batch—the school certified the enrollment information through the
batch Enrollment Reporting process.

−

NSLDS Web—the school certified the enrollment information using the
Enrollment Maintenance page.

−

ED Authorized—NSLDS certified enrollment information when students
are affected by a school closure, merger, or loss of eligibility. This process
was first run on 06/20/2007, for all schools in NSLDS with open enrollment
at closed, merged, and ineligible schools.

−

Clearinghouse Contract—certified enrollment information from schools
that use the Clearinghouse as their enrollment servicer.


−
•

Note: In the past, the National Student Clearinghouse provided the
school certification in response to a student borrower list
containing ED held loans, in addition to the responses that were
provided with a scheduled school Roster.

N/A—the enrollment information has not been certified by the school.

Date Received—indicates the day that NSLDS processed the enrollment
information. This may assist in determining the timeliness of a school’s

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enrollment reporting, or in reviewing data reported by multiple organizations.
Note: In December 2001, NSLDS converted all existing records to new enrollment tables
to begin retaining history. Enrollment records existing on NSLDS during the conversion
display a Date Received of 12/26/2001, 12/27/2001, or 12/28/2001. Records added after
the conversion are populated with actual Dates Received.
•

Term Begin—The Term Begin Date that was reported with that particular
enrollment record.

•

Term End—The Term End Date that was reported with that particular enrollment
record.

Sources other than schools do not certify enrollment information. If an Enrollment
Detail record is based on non-school data, the Cert. Date and Cert. Method boxes for
that record will display ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable).

Program Enrollment Detail
The Program Enrollment Detail page is assessable through the Enrollment Summary
page. The page allows schools and loan holders to view the full history of a student's
enrollment status for each program they have attended. A new record is displayed for a
program each time the student’s enrollment status for that program changes.

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Figure 7-10: Program Enrollment Detail
If you want to see additional certification information on the program listed, click the
active bullet number next to the program whose records you wish to see.

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Figure 7-11: Program Certification Detail

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Using Display Options for Program Enrollment Detail
Display Options, located in the center of the Program Enrollment Detail page, allow you
to limit or expand the number of program records displayed on the page.
To use this feature:
1. Select the options you wish to use by clicking on the corresponding lists and clicking
the desired value.
2. Click Apply. The Program Enrollment Detail page will appear again, showing only the
records you specified using Display Options.
The following Display Options are available:
Display Only:
•

•

•

•

•

•

•

School Location—Allows you to select program enrollment information for All
Locations (Default Setting) the student has attended, or an individual school
location identified by name and OPEID in the drop-down box.
Source—Allows you to restrict the program enrollment information that displays
to what was reported by specific types of organizations.
−

All—Allows you to view information reported by both schools and nonschool organizations.

−

Non-Schools—Allows you to view only information reported by
organizations that are not the certifying organization, including COD.

−

Schools (Default Setting)-Allows you to view only information certified by
schools.

CIP Code—Allows you to view program information reported for all Classification
of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes or choose a specific CIP code from the
drop-down box.
CIP Year—Allows you to view program information reported for all CIP years or
choose a specific CIP year from the drop-down box.
Credential Level—Allows you to view program information reported for all
Credential Levels or choose a specific Credential Level from the drop-down box.
Published Program Length in Years—Allows you to view program information
reported for all Published Program Lengths or choose a specific Published
Program Length from the drop-down box.
Records—Allows you to select which program enrollment status records to view:
−

Active Only (Default Setting)—Active records collectively constitute

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NSLDS's current understanding of a student's program enrollment history.
Showing all active records allows you to view a complete record of a
student's program enrollment history as NSLDS currently understands it.
−

Active and Inactive—Allows you to view a complete record of what
program enrollment status information was reported to NSLDS and when
it was reported. If you select this option, you should distinguish between
active records and inactive records. Note: Inactive records are records that
were reported and then later corrected.

Sort By:
•

•

•

School Location—Allows you to select the order in which the school locations
are displayed on the page.
−

OPEID (Default Setting) —Orders the schools numerically by their eightdigit Office of Postsecondary Education Identification number (OPEID).

−

School Location Name—Orders the schools alphabetically by their names.
If you cannot find the records for a school when you select this option, try
school name variations (for example, "Alaska, University of" rather than
"University of Alaska").

Program—Allows you to select the order in which the programs for each school
location are displayed on the page.
−

CIP Code (Default Setting) —Orders the programs by the six-digit CIP
code.

−

Credential Level—Orders the programs by Credential Level.

−

Program Length—Orders the programs by Program Length.

Records—Allows you to select the order in which records for a student's
program enrollment at a given school are displayed. Each option performs a
primary sort on the Reported By and Reported By ID fields.
−

Reported By, Earliest Certification, Effective Date (Default Setting) —
Performs a secondary sort on Earliest Certification Date, then Effective
Date.

−

Reported By, Latest Certification, Effective Date—Performs a secondary
sort on Latest Certification Date, then Effective Date.

−

Reported By, Effective Date, Earliest Certification—Performs a secondary
sort on Effective Date, then Earliest Certification Date.

−

Reported By, Effective Date, Latest Certification—Performs a secondary
sort on Effective Date, then Latest Certification Date.

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Reported By, Latest Date Received, Effective Date—Performs a secondary
sort on Latest Date Received, then Effective Date.

Program Enrollment Detail: A Closer Look
The Program Enrollment Detail table (located at the bottom of the Program Enrollment
Detail page) displays the following information for each enrollment record that matches
the Display Options you selected:
•

•

School Location Name and OPEID—The name and OPEID of the school location
where program enrollment has been reported for a student. All the program and
status records for a given school are grouped together. Each school location
receives its own separate table.
Active Number Icon—Each program on the page is identified by an active
number icon. Clicking the icon takes you to the Program Certification Detail for
that program. Records are numbered in ascending sequence.

At the level of the individual program:
•

CIP Code and Title—The six-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)
code, without a period, identifying a program's academic content and the official
CIP title for that CIP code. Not the school's name for the program.

•

CIP Year—The year corresponding to the CIP code reported.

•

Credential Level—The Credential Level of the program. Valid values are:

•

−

01—Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma Program

−

02—Associate's Degree

−

03—Bachelor's Degree

−

04—Post Baccalaureate Certificate

−

05—Master's Degree

−

06—Doctoral Degree

−

07—First Professional Degree

−

08—Graduate / Professional Certificate

−

99—Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework / Teacher
Certification)

Published Prog. Length in Yrs.—The Published Program Length of the
instructional program in years. This value is calculated by NSLDS if the school
uses a different unit (months or weeks) for reporting Published Program Length

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to NSLDS.
•

•

Special Program Indicator—Indicates that the program belongs to one of the
following groups:
−

A—Special Admission Associate Degree Program

−

B—Bachelor's Degree Completion Program

−

N—Not Applicable

−

P—Preparatory Coursework Graduate Professional Program

−

T—Non-Credential Teacher Certification Program

−

U—Preparatory Coursework Undergraduate Program

Prog. Begin Date—The date on which the student began attending the program.
−

NSLDS will use COD's Payment Period Begin Date as the Program Begin
Date for all program enrollment data reported by COD.

•

Reported Program Length—The Published Program Length of the instructional
program in years, months, or weeks as reported by the school.

•

Weeks in Academic Year—The total number of weeks of instruction in the
school's Title IV Academic Year.

At the program status level:
•

•

•

•

Reported By—Identifies the type of organization that reported the program
enrollment information.
Reported By ID—Contains the organizational code, such as the OPEID, for the
organization that reported the program enrollment information.
Note: Displays DLORGN for COD.
Status—The student's current program enrollment status. Valid values are:
−

A—Leave of absence

−

L—Less than half-time

−

D—Deceased

−

Q—Three-quarter time

−

F—Full-time

−

W—Withdrawn

−

G—Graduated

−

X—Never attended

−

H—Half-time

−

Z—Record not found

Eff. Date—The Effective Date is the date when the reported program enrollment
status took effect. The following special rules apply:
−

NSLDS sets Effective Date equal to Certification Date for Enrollment Status
'X' (Never Attended) and 'Z' (No Record Found) when the date is not

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reported by the school.
−
•

•

•

•

•

•

•

NSLDS sets Effective Date equal to 12/31/9999 when it is not supplied by
the school for records with an Enrollment Status of 'D' (Deceased).

Active—A flag identifying whether a record reflects NSLDS's current
understanding of a student's program enrollment history.
−

Yes—Indicates that the record is active and reflects NSLDS's current
understanding of a student's enrollment history.

−

No—Indicates that the record is no longer active. It contains program
enrollment information that was reported to NSLDS at some point in the
past but was subsequently corrected by a later submission.

Earliest Cert.—The earliest date as of which the school certified the program
enrollment status.
Latest Cert.—The latest date as of which the school certified the program
enrollment status.
Latest Cert. Method—The method the school used most recently to certify the
program enrollment status.
−

School Batch—The school certified the program enrollment information
through the batch enrollment reporting process.

−

NSLDS Web—The school certified the program enrollment information
using the Enrollment Maintenance page on this site or through the
Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal upload.

−

ED Authorized—NSLDS certified program enrollment information for a
student affected by a school closure, merger, or loss of eligibility.

Times Certified—The number of certifications included in the range between the
Earliest Certification Date and the Latest Certification Date for an enrollment
status.
Latest Date Received—Indicates the day when NSLDS processed the most
recent report of that program enrollment status from that source. In cases where
different organizations were reporting different information about the same
student, or where you suspect that an organization may not have reported
information in a timely fashion, you can use the Date Received to determine
when information was reported to NSLDS by each source and in what order.
Current—Indicates the most current program enrollment status reported by that
source.

Sources other than schools do not certify program enrollment information. So, if a
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Program Enrollment Detail record is based on non-school data, several boxes for that
record will display 'N/A' (Not Applicable).

Enrollment Timeline
The Enrollment Timeline page displays the student’s enrollment history chronologically.
This format is useful when you need an ‘audit trail’ showing how each school or data
provider reported the student’s enrollment over time.
The Enrollment Timeline consists of a series of boxes, each displaying a date range at
the top and a table of enrollment data at the bottom. The NSLDSFAP website adds a
new box to the top of the timeline each time the student’s enrollment status changes.
Ordering is based on the Effective Date of the most recent change. The date range at
the top of each box runs from the day after the previous change to the day of the latest
change. The rows in the table show the latest enrollment records from every school and
data provider that has reported enrollment data for the student. Thus, each box
provides a ‘snapshot’ view of the student’s complete enrollment status since the
previous status change.
To view the student’s enrollment timeline, start at the Enrollment Summary page:
1. Click Enrollment Timeline. The Enrollment Timeline page appears (Figure 7-12:
Enrollment Timeline).

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Figure 7-12: Enrollment Timeline
Click the blue arrow at the upper left corner to return to the Enrollment Summary page.
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Using Advanced Display Options
As on the Enrollment Detail page, you can select Advanced Display Options to show
specific types of records in the timeline. You can also specify a particular date and the
NSLDSFAP website will display the enrollment record for that student at that time.
The following Advanced Display Options are available:
•

•

Reported By—allows you to display only enrollment information reported by a
specific type of organization.
−

All—allows you to view information reported by both schools and nonschool organizations, such as GAs and federal loan servicers.

−

Schools (Default Setting)—allows you to view only information reported by
schools.

−

Non-Schools—Allows you to view only information reported by
organizations other than schools, including GAs and federal loan servicers.

Date—causes the date range containing the date you type to appear at the top
of the timeline. You will still be able to scroll up or down to earlier or later time
periods. Remember: the date range refers to the Effective Date of the current and
previous enrollment status changes.

To use Advanced Display Options:
1. In the Reported By list, click a selection.
2. Type a date in the Date box.
3. Click Apply.

Enrollment Timeline: A Closer Look
The Enrollment Timeline table displays the following information in descending
chronological order, from the present to the earliest time period for which any
enrollment was reported. All the enrollment information displayed on the timeline is
ordered according to Effective Date. Data for each time period is displayed in an
individual box. A new box is created only when an organization reports new enrollment
information.
•

Statuses in Effect—the time period in which the enrollment statuses were in
effect. This information appears in each box above the rows containing
enrollment records.

•

School OPEID— an institution’s unique 8-digit OPEID of the location for which
the enrollment is certified.

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•

Reported By—identifies the type of organization that reported the enrollment
information.

•

Reported By ID—contains the organizational code, such as OPEID or GA
number, for the organization that reported the enrollment information.

•

Status—the student’s enrollment status.
−

•

•

NSLDS displays an enrollment status of “Moved” when a school has
reported the student at a different location.

Eff. Date—the Effective Date is the date when the most recently reported status
took effect. The following special rules apply:
−

NSLDS sets the Effective Date equal to Certification Date for Enrollment
Status ‘Z’ (No Record Found).

−

NSLDS sets the Effective Date equal to 12/31/9999 when it is not reported
by the school for records with an Enrollment Status of ‘D’ (Deceased).

Last ACD—the Anticipated Completion Date most recently reported to NSLDS
for that status. The Anticipated Completion Date is the date when the student
completed, or is/was expected to complete, his or her studies. The following
special rules apply when there is no reported date by school:
−

NSLDS sets the Anticipated Completion Date to 01/01/0001 for Enrollment
Status ‘Z’ (No Record Found), and ‘W’ (Withdrawn) in the batch file and
displays blank online.

−

NSLDS sets the Anticipated Completion Date to 12/31/9999 for Enrollment
Status ‘D’ (Deceased).

−

NSLDS sets Anticipated Completion Date equal to the Effective Date for
Enrollment Status ‘G’ (Graduated).

Subsidized Usage
The Subsidized Usage page allows users to determine the length of time in years
students are eligible to receive Direct Subsidized loans subject to usage limits, how
many years for which students have already received Direct Subsidized loans, and how
much eligibility a student has left to receive Direct Subsidized loans. If a student has
used all their eligibility, but continues to be enrolled without completing their program,
they may be responsible for paying the interest accrued sooner than they otherwise
would be.

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Note: As of July 1, 2021, NSLDS no longer determines Loss of Subsidy for any Direct
Subsidized Loan. Loans that lost subsidy and had a zero balance on July 1, 2021 will
continue to display in a Loss of Subsidy status.

Figure 7-13: Subsidized Usage
•

Detailed information about the student's subsidized usage at the level of
individual Direct Subsidized loan award originations and the current subsidy
status of each loan.
−

Active Number Icon—The award origination records in this section of the
page are ordered by award begin date, starting with the most recent. To

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the left of each record is a number icon. If the award origination can be
linked to a loan with the same award identification number (award ID) on
NSLDS, this number icon displays with a blue background and is a link to
the Loan Detail page for that loan. If the award origination cannot be
linked to a loan, the number icon is greyed out and does not function as a
hyperlink. The latter situation can happen because NSLDS normally
receives award origination records from COD before it receives the
associated loan records from Federal Loan Servicers.

•

−

School Name—The name of the school location the student attended
during the loan award period. Click the school name to access the school's
Organization Contact List page.

−

OPEID—The eight-digit Office of Postsecondary Education ID (OPEID) of
the school location the student attended during the loan award period.

−

Earliest Disb. Date—The date of the first disbursement for the loan
award.

−

Loan Per. Beg. Date—The beginning date for the period covered by the
loan award.

−

Loan Per. End Date—The end date for the period covered by the loan
award.

−

Usage in Yrs.—The period of time, expressed in years or portions of years,
the student attended school while funded by the loan award.

−

Cum. Usage in Yrs.— The cumulative period of time, expressed in years or
portions of years, the student attended school while being funded by a
Direct Subsidized loan subject to usage limits.

−

Subsidy Status—The status of the interest subsidy on the loan award.

−

Loss of Sub. Eff. Date— For loans that have lost subsidy, the date that
loss took effect. Otherwise, N/A.

−

Usage at Loss in Yrs.— The period of time, expressed in years or portions
of years, the student attended school while funded by a given loan award.

−

Information Symbol—A small blue information symbol to the right of the
value for Usage in Yrs. and/or Subsidy Status indicates that the value
displayed is the result of a current override to the value reported by COD
or determined by NSLDS.

Information about the student's current program enrollment.
−

School Name—The name of the school location at which enrollment was

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reported for the student. Click the school name to access the school's
Organization Contact List page. If the enrollment information was not
reported by the school, a small warning icon appears after the school's
name.
−

OPEID—The eight-digit Office of Postsecondary Education ID number for
the school location at which enrollment was reported.

−

CIP Year—The year corresponding to the CIP code reported.

−

CIP Code—The six-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)
code, without period, identifying a program's academic content.

−

Description—The official CIP title for that CIP code, not the school's name
for the program.

−

Cred. Lvl.—The Credential Level of the program. Valid values are:
o 01—Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma Program
o 02—Associate's Degree
o 03—Bachelor's Degree

o 04—Post Baccalaureate Certificate
o 05—Master's Degree

o 06—Doctoral Degree

o 07—First Professional Degree

o 08—Graduate / Professional Certificate

o 99—Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework / Teacher
Certification)
−

Spec. Prog. Ind.—Indicates that the program belongs to one of the
following groups:
o A—Special Admission Associate Degree Program
o B—Bachelor's Degree Completion Program
o N—Not Applicable

o P—Preparatory Coursework Graduate Professional Program
o T—Non-Credential Teacher Certification Program

o U—Preparatory Coursework Undergraduate Program

−

Length in Yrs.—The period of time required to complete the program,
expressed in years or portions of years, as published by the school.

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−

Program Beg. Date—The date on which the student began attending the
program.

−

Status Eff. Date—The date on which the student's current program status
first took effect.

−

Enrl. Status—The student's current program enrollment status. Valid
values are:
o A—Leave of absence

o L—Less than half-time

o F—Full-time

o W—Withdrawn

o D—Deceased

o G—Graduated

o H—Half-time

o Q—Three-quarter time
o X—Never attended

o Z—Record not found

Maximum Eligibility Timeline
The Maximum Eligibility Timeline page is now available from the Enrollment Summary
page, under the Enrollment tab of the NSLDSFAP website. This page displays a full
history of a student’s subsidized usage and eligibility as subject to Direct Subsidized
usage limits. This page is intended to help users understand when and why events such
as Loss of Subsidy (LOS) or Reinstatement of Subsidy occurred and shows the Direct
Subsidized loan awards and school certified Program Enrollment information that
determine these events.
Note: As of July 1, 2021, the Maximum Eligibility Period (MEP), Subsidized Usage Period
(SUP) and Remaining Eligibility Period (REP) on NSLDS are informational-only and does
not have an impact on the 150% Borrowing Limitation or Loss of Subsidy. Loans that
lost subsidy and had a zero balance on July 1, 2021 will continue to display in a Loss of
Subsidy status.

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Figure 7-14: Maximum Eligibility Timeline
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Enrollment Push to Roster
Schools may use the “Enrollment Push to Roster” option to add a student to the Roster
of another institution. On the Enrollment Summary Web page, the Enrollment Push to
Roster button opens a new page on which schools may enter the 8-digit OPEID of the
institution that will need to certify the student’s enrollment and the Enrollment Push
Date. Once the request is submitted, the student will be added to the school portfolio
on the Enrollment Push Date and appear on the next school Roster generated after that
date. The date can be a future date but cannot be more than 18 months greater than
the current date.

Figure 7-15: Enrollment Push to Roster
After clicking the Submit button, a message appears that the student was successfully
added.

7.8 Updating Student Enrollment Data
The Enrollment Update page allows you to change student enrollment data for your
school’s Title IV aid recipients. If you are using the batch Enrollment Reporting process,
you can use these pages to display your school’s Enrollment Reporting Roster and
correct errors shown in the Error/Acknowledgment file. Updating student enrollment
data involves three activities:
1. Retrieving the student records, you want to update using the Enrollment Update
page.
2. Changing and certifying the enrollment data in those records using the
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Enrollment Maintenance page.
3. Confirming the new enrollment data using the Enrollment Maintenance Confirm
page.
The following section explains how to perform these activities.

Getting Started: The Enrollment Update Page
On the NSLDSFAP website Menu page, look for the Enrollment area and click the
Enrollment Update link. The Enrollment Update page appears (Figure 7-22: Enrollment
Update). You can also reach the Enrollment Update page at any time by clicking the
Enroll tab. This will cause the Enrollment Summary page to appear. Then look for the
navigation bar (in teal) at the top of the page and click Enrollment Update.

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Figure 7-16: Enrollment Update

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Retrieving All Your School’s Enrollment Records
The quickest way to retrieve enrollment records, to update, is simply to display them all.
This is the equivalent of viewing an Enrollment Reporting Roster file in the batch
process. Retrieving the Roster online provides the most current information NSLDS has
and may not match a previously generated Roster file. If loans have been loaded for
students at your school since the Roster file was generated, they will appear online,
although they may not have been in your Roster file.
If you click Retrieve without entering any search criteria, Enrollment Update will retrieve
all enrollment records for your school.
1. On the Enrollment Update page, click Retrieve. The Enrollment Maintenance page
will show enrollment records for your school, 15 students at a time. You can use the
blue arrows to scroll through the records.
2. Follow the instructions to update and certify your records.

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Figure 7-17: Enrollment Maintenance
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Retrieving Student Records to Update
Before you can make changes to students’ enrollment records, you must retrieve the
records you wish to update. The Enrollment Update page gives you three options for
retrieving records:
1. Retrieve ALL enrollment records for your school by simply clicking Retrieve. This is
equivalent to getting your school’s most recent Roster.
2. Retrieve and sort a set of records by Student’s SSN, Last Name, Student Designator,
or Certification Date using the Primary Search Options.
3. Retrieve a smaller and more specific set of records using Advanced Search Options.
The following sections describe how to use each of these options.

Narrowing the Search: The Primary Search Options
You can limit the number of enrollment records retrieved, and control the order in which
they are displayed, by entering criteria in the Primary Search Options box.
1. In the Primary Search Options box, click the Retrieve/Sort By list to display the three
retrieve/sort options. These are:
•

SSN (Default)—displays student records in ascending numeric order by student
SSN.

•

Last Name—displays student records in ascending alphabetic order by student
last name.

•

Student Designator—displays student records ordered by the identifier you use
on your internal system, provided that you report that identifier to NSLDS as part
of the Enrollment Reporting process.

•

Certification Date—Displays student records in ascending order by Certification
Date (oldest first).

2. Click the Retrieve/Sort By option you wish to use.
3. In the Begin Value box, type the letters or numbers you wish to use as the starting
point of your search.
•

You can type an entire name or part of a name, SSN, or student identifier as a
beginning value for the roster you will retrieve. For example, if you choose
“Name” as your Retrieve/Sort By option and type the first few letters of a name,
such as ‘Rep’ the system will retrieve all the student records beginning with those
letters and the records that follow.

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4. Click Exact Match Only if you want an exact match for the Begin Value you typed.
Keep the following facts in mind:
•

When you click Exact Match Only with a complete SSN or a unique Student
Designator, NSLDS returns only one student record.

•

When it is used with the last name, Exact Match Only returns records for all
students with that last name.

5. Click Retrieve. When the Enrollment Maintenance page appears to follow the
instructions to update and certify your records.

Going Further: Using the Advanced Search
Options
The Primary Search Options alone are adequate for most enrollment maintenance
situations. Sometimes, you may need to narrow your search using other criteria. The
Advanced Search Options give you additional flexibility in choosing enrollment records
to update.
The Advanced Search Options include the following:
Campus Enrollment
•

Last Name Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for students whose last
names fall within an alphabetic range. For example, if you enter a single letter
(such as ‘B’) in the Begin Value box, the system will retrieve names that start with
B and list them alphabetically (Bailey, Booker, Bush). Be careful when typing the
End value. Type the next letter, after the initial letter of the names(s), you seek, or
do not specify an End value. To search for last names that begin with ‘Z’, leave
the End value blank or type ‘ZZZZZZZ’.

•

SSN Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for students whose SSNs fall
within a numeric range. Be careful when typing the End value. An End value
containing fewer than 9 digits (such as ‘99’) will not retrieve SSNs that begin with
that number but contain more digits (such as ‘990–00–0000’), since the longer
number comes after the shorter one numerically.

•

Student Designator Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for students
whose designators fall within an alphanumeric range. Be careful when entering
the End value.

•

Certification Date Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for students which
have been certified within a specified date range. The Begin and End values are
inclusive; that is, records with a Certification Date equal to the Begin or End date

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are retrieved, as well as records certified between those two dates. If you recertify a group of students online, you can, at a later time, set the End date equal
to the day before the earlier online session to retrieve all the records you did not
re-certify in that session.
Note: Schools may use this filter to search for students who have not been
certified within the last 60 days, as is required for Enrollment Reporting.
•

Anticipated Completion Date Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for
students whose ACD falls within a specific date range. The Begin and End values
are inclusive; that is, records with an ACD equal to the Begin or End date are
retrieved, as well as records with an ACD between those two dates. You can use
these options to retrieve all students who are scheduled to graduate at the end
of a given semester.

•

Term Begin Date Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for students whose
Term Begin Date falls within a specific date range.

•

Term End Date Begin/End—allows you to retrieve records for students whose
Term End Date falls within a specific date range.

•

Location—allows you to retrieve records for students of the 8-digit location
when schools share an enrollment administrator for multiple locations.

•

Enrollment Codes—allows you to search for records with specific Enrollment
Codes. By default, Enrollment Update searches for all Enrollment Codes.

•

Exclude Students with Certified Programs—When checked, allows you to
retrieve records for students who do not have certified Program-Level Enrollment,
or who have new program records that require certification. When not checked,
allows you to retrieve records for all students regardless of certified programlevel enrollment status.

Program Enrollment
•

•
•

CIP Code—Allows you to retrieve records for students with a specific six-digit
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code on at least one of their
programs.
CIP Year— Allows you to retrieve records for students with a specific CIP year on
at least one of their programs.
Published Program Length in Years Begin/End—Allow you to retrieve records
for students with a Published Program Length that falls within a specific date
range on at least one of their programs.

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Conversion from Months to Years: Published Program Length in Years =
(Published Program Length in Months multiply by 30) divided by (Weeks
in Title IV Academic Year multiply by 7)
o Conversion from Months to Weeks: Published Program Length in Years =
Published Program Length in Weeks divided by Weeks in Title IV Academic
Year
Credential Levels—Allow you to retrieve records for students with a specific
Credential Level associated with at least one of their programs. By default,
Enrollment Update searches for all Credential Levels.
Special Program Indicator—Allows you to retrieve records for students with a
specific Special Program Indicator associated with at least one of their programs.
By default, Enrollment Update searches for all Special Program Indicators.
o

•

•

Note: Program Enrollment advanced search options return the student's campus-level
enrollment and any other programs the students are currently attending.
To retrieve a student using the Advanced Search Options:
1. Select the Primary Search Options you want or skip this step to use the default
option: SSN. In Figure 7-24, for example, the SSN Begin Value has been entered as
‘1’.
2. Enter the Advanced Search Options you want. In Figure 7-24 for example, the
enrollment code of ‘F’, Credential Level of ‘03’ and all Special Program Indicator
options have been checked.

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Figure 7-18: Enrollment Update

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3. Click Retrieve. The Enrollment Maintenance, Advanced Search Options Result page
appears (Figure 7-25: Enrollment Maintenance). In this example, the page displays
enrollment records for students whose SSNs begin with 1, who have enrollment
codes of ‘F’, with a Credential Level of ‘03’. Follow the instructions to update and
certify your records.

Figure 7-19: Enrollment Maintenance
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When you use the Advanced Search Options, keep the following facts in mind:
•

If you do not enter any Primary or Advanced Search Options and accept the
default sort on Student SSN, your organization’s entire Student Portfolio displays
in SSN order on the Enrollment Maintenance page, 15 at a time.

•

Advanced Search options are evaluated together with Primary Search options.
Neither supersedes the other. This means that if your Primary and Advanced
Search Options contradict each other, Enrollment Update will not find any
records, even though each individual part of the combination would find and
display records.
−

For example, if you select an exact match on Student SSN 111-11-1111 as
your Primary Search Option and Student SSNs between 555-55-5555 and
888-88-8888 as your Advanced Search Option, Enrollment Update will not
find any records. This occurs even though NSLDS contains enrollment
records for a student with SSN 111-11-1111 and for students with SSNs
between 555-55-5555 and 888-88-8888.

•

As you scroll through the list and update individual or multiple records, the
Enrollment Maintenance Page continues to display only those records that match
the search options you selected on the Enrollment Update page. To change
search options, you must return to Enrollment Update.

•

Finally, the Total Students Matching Criteria displays the number of students
returned by search options you selected on the Enrollment Update page.

Updating Selected Enrollment Records
The Enrollment Maintenance page displays all enrollment records for your school that
match the criteria you entered in Steps 1–3 of the previous section. To update the
selected student enrollment records:
1. On the Enrollment Maintenance page, type a recertification date in the
Recertification Date box, or accept the default date (the current date) displayed by
the page. This date is used to populate the Cert. Date box of the individual student
records you select in Step 2 below.
2. Select the student enrollment records you want to certify. There are two ways to do
this:
•

Select the records individually by clicking the check box to the far left of the row
with the student’s SSN, name, and DOB.

•

Select all the records displayed on the page by clicking Check All at the top of
the form.

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3. Update as necessary the information in the following boxes:
•

Cert. Date (Certification Date)—the date you are certifying the enrollment
information.

•

No Progs. - Click this box to indicate that a student is not enrolled in at least one
program. If this field is checked the school is not required to report the student’s
Program-Level Enrollment data. Student’s Program-Level Enrollment data must
be reported regardless of whether the program is eligible for Title IV aid. If this
field is not checked, the school is required to report the Program-Level
Enrollment data.

•

Location-The eight-digit Office of Postsecondary Education ID (OPEID) for the
location where the student is attending or has attended. The school user can use
this field to move a student from one location to another within the same
administration group. When a new location code is entered, NSLDS will add the
student and the enrollment record to the new location and display "Moved" as
the enrollment status for the prior location. All programs currently reported at
the prior location for the same student will also be moved to the new location.

•

Status-The Enrollment Code identifying a student's current enrollment status.
Select from the drop-down menu to change a currently displayed enrollment
code.

•

Eff. Date (Effective Date)-The date a changed enrollment code took effect.

•

Student Desig (Student Designator)-Enter an identifier you use on your internal
system if you want NSLDS to provide it as part of the Enrollment Reporting
process.

•

ACD (Anticipated Completion Date)-The date when the student completed, or is
expected to complete, his or her studies.

•

Term Begin-Provide the term begin date for the term in which enrollment data is
being reported.

•

Term End -Provide the term end date for the term in which enrollment data is
being reported.

•

Add Program-Click this button to add a new program to the student’s record.

•

Address-Click this button to open a pop-up window in which the school user can
confirm, update, or enter the student's permanent address.

•

CIP Code/Year-The six-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code,
without a period, identifying a program’s academic content and the year
corresponding to the CIP code reported.

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2020 CIP Year Auto-Conversion (Triangular Green Icon)- If the CIP Code and
Year combination is prior to CIP Year 2020 the field will be identified by a
triangular green icon.
o When selected, the icon changes from a green triangle to red and
automatically converts CIP Year to 2020. Additionally, it prevents any
changes to the CIP Code, Credential Level, Program Length, and Weeks in
Acad. Yr. for the program in the selected row.
o To revert back to the original values for the program, prior to submission,
click on the red triangular icon before certifying student.
o Once the student has been certified with a CIP Year 2020, the triangular
icon will not display.

•

Description- The official CIP title for that CIP code. Not the school’s name for the
program.

•

Credential Level-The Credential Level of the program. Select from the dropdown menu to change the Credential Level code.

•

Special Program-Indicates that the program belongs to a special program.
Select from the drop-down menu to change the special program code.

•

Program Begin Date-The date on which the student began attending the
program.

•

Program Status-The Program Enrollment Code identifying a student's current
program enrollment status. Select from the drop-down menu to change the
program enrollment code.

•

Status Effective Date-The Program Effective Date is the date when the student's
current program status first took effect.

•

Program Length-The Published Program Length and unit of measure for the
length of the instructional program in years, months, or weeks as published by
the school. You may enter this value in years, months, or weeks; but after it has
been submitted the value will be stored and displayed in years or fractions of
years.

•

Weeks in Acad. Yr.-The Weeks in Title IV Academic Year, the total number of
weeks of instruction in the program’s academic year. Only report when Published
Program Length Measurement is W or M.

When updating students, keep the following in mind:
•

If a school has students who have not been certified in more than 65 days, a
warning icon reading Late Certification will appear at the top of the page.

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•

Additionally, a warning icon will appear next to each student that has not been
certified in over 65 days.

•

A warning icon will appear next to the CIP code for that program that has been
reported to NSLDS by COD but has not been certified by the school.

Figure 7-20: Enrollment Maintenance Update
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For security reasons, the NSLDSFAP website will time out after 30
minutes of inactivity. This means enrollment data that has not been
submitted within 30 minutes WILL BE LOST when the NSLDSFAP website
automatically logs you off.
1. Click Certify Checked Students to submit the enrollment data changes.
•

If you click Reset, the Enrollment Maintenance page will redisplay with whatever
information that was displayed when you last retrieved your students’ records.

2. If the information you submitted contains no errors, the Enrollment Maintenance
Confirm page appears as seen in Figure 7-27: Enrollment Maintenance Confirm.
If your information contains errors, NSLDS will display an appropriate message.

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Figure 7-21: Enrollment Maintenance Confirm

Confirming Enrollment Information
To confirm your changes:
1. On the Enrollment Maintenance Confirm page, verify the displayed enrollment
information to make sure it is correct and up to date.
2. Click Confirm to apply your changes to the database. The Enrollment Maintenance
page redisplays with the updated enrollment information (Figure 7-28: Enrollment
Maintenance).
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If you click Cancel, you will be returned to the Enrollment Maintenance page, where you
can continue to correct or change your enrollment data.

Figure 7-22: Enrollment Maintenance - Successfully Updated

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Enrollment Maintenance: What Happens If…
When updating student enrollment records, these situations may arise:
You change your mind…
•

If you check records but then decide that you do not want to certify them,
uncheck the records individually or click Uncheck All at the top of the form. When
you uncheck a record, the Cert. Date reverts to the date it was set to before you
selected the record, but any other changes you made to enrollment information
remain. However, if you leave the page without clicking Submit, those changes
will not be applied.

You click the Reset button…
•

If you click Reset before you submit the records, Enrollment Maintenance will
redisplay the information that was displayed when you last retrieved your
students’ records. This includes removing the checks from any boxes and the
certification date that was applied prior to the reset selection.

Your student disappears…
•

Sometimes, submitting and confirming an update to a student’s enrollment
status causes that student to “disappear” from the Enrollment Maintenance page.
This happens under the following circumstances:
o You update a student’s enrollment status to Deceased (‘D’), Graduated
(‘G’), Withdrawn (‘W’), Never Attended (‘X’) or No Record Found (‘Z’) two
consecutive times.
o You updated a student’s enrollment data and the student fell outside the
Advanced Search Options you set. For example, you selected students
based on an Anticipated Completion Date Begin of 06/01/2012 and
Anticipated Completion Date End of 06/30/2012. You updated all the
students to ‘G’ with an ACD of 06/18/2012, but two students who have not
completed their course work. For those two students, you updated their
ACD to 12/15/2013. Once confirmed, the two students no longer fit the
Advanced Search Options of an ACD between 06/01/2012 and
06/30/2012.
o You used the location field to move a student to another location. The
student will be removed from the Roster of the old location and added to
the Roster of the new location.

You enter the wrong Program Identifiers (CIP Code, CIP Year, Credential Level, Special
Program, Program Length or Weeks in Academic Year)…
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You have two alternatives:
o If you have not yet clicked the Confirm button to certify the enrollment
information, including CIP, you will be able to backtrack and fix the incorrect
CIP.
o If you have confirmed and thus certified enrollment information containing
the incorrect program identifiers, you will need to inactivate the record by
reporting a “Never Attended” or ‘X’ status with a later certification date and
add a new program with the correct CIP code.

Your student’s program appears with a Program Begin Date that is invalid or in the
future or there are inconsistencies between Credential Level and Special Program
Indicator (e.g., ‘A’ Selective Admission Associate Degree Program is not reported with
Credential Level ‘02’)…
•

Report an Enrollment Status of ‘X’ (Never Attended) or ‘Z’ (No Record Found) in
these situations.

Update and Certify Errors
If the information you submitted contains errors, the Enrollment Maintenance page
redisplays (Figure 7-29: Enrollment Maintenance Error Message). A small error icon
appears to the left of each row that contains an error. In the example below, record
number 1 displays an error icon to the left of the record number. Place your cursor over
the icon to display the error message associated with that row.

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Figure 7-23: Enrollment Maintenance Error Message
There are several ways to correct errors so the enrollment information you updated can
be saved in NSLDS:
•

Edit the data in the boxes for Cert. Date, Enroll. Code, Eff. Date, and ACD for all
records displaying errors.
–

For example, Thomas Gold’s record has an error: ensure ACD is greater
than Certification Date. Thomas’s ACD was 05/14/2012. Correct this error
(in this instance the error is corrected by changing the enrollment code to
indicate a ‘G’ with the ACD of 05/14/2012) and resubmit as instructed.

•

When working on multiple students and you are unable to correct an individual
record so that NSLDS will accept it, uncheck that record and resubmit the other
student records you want to certify. Take note of the problem student’s
identifiers so that you may retrieve and certify it later, after you have done the
research needed to submit information acceptable to NSLDS.

•

If the records you want to certify contain too many errors or continuously fail
edits, you may have to perform the update process over again. In this case, you
can use Primary Search Options at the top of the Enrollment Maintenance page
to retrieve your school’s student enrollment records again. You can also return to
the Enrollment Update page and use Advanced Search Options to retrieve a
different set of records.

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See Appendix D for Error Code Message detailed information.

Adding Students to a School’s Enrollment Reporting Roster
You can add students to your Roster instantaneously by using the Enrollment
Maintenance page. Adding updated enrollment for students allows NSLDS to inform
the GA or federal loan servicer of the attendance, which allows lenders to put the
student in an automatic In-School Deferment. Additionally, the student will be added to
your Roster for continued monitoring should the enrollment status change.
Adding Title IV aid recipients to your school’s Enrollment Reporting Roster involves the
following activities:
1. Verify the student has a record on NSLDS.
2. Add the student to the Roster on the Enrollment Maintenance page.
The following section explains how to perform these activities.

Retrieving Student Records to Add
Use the student identifiers (SSN, first name, DOB) to search for a student. There are two
ways to add the student to a Roster:
•

From the Enrollment Summary page, click the Enrollment Maintenance button.

•

From the Enrollment Update page, retrieve the enrollment Roster (which takes
you to the Enrollment Maintenance page) and then click the Add Student button
at the bottom of the page.

From the Enrollment Summary page:
1. Click the Enrollment Maintenance button.
2. The Enrollment Maintenance page will display a blank record with the student
identifiers pre-populated.
3. Select the individual record by clicking the check box to the far left of the record.
4. Update the necessary campus and program enrollment information.
5. Click Add Program to add the program for the student to your Roster (Figure
7-30).
6. Click Address to add or update the student's permanent address (Figure 7-31).
From the Enrollment Maintenance page:
•

Access the Enrollment Maintenance page.

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•

•
•

•

•

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Click Add Student to add the student to your Roster (Figure 7-30).
The Enrollment Maintenance page will display a blank record at the bottom of
the page.
Select the individual record by clicking the check box to the far left of the record.
Enter Student Identifiers (SSN, Name, and DOB) and update the necessary
campus and program enrollment information.
Click Add Program to add the program for the student to your Roster (Figure
7-30).
Click Address to add or update the student's permanent address (Figure 7-31).

Figure 7-24: Enrollment Maintenance Add Program/Student

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Remember:
•

The student does not have to have a loan with your school to be added to your
Roster. Any student with open Title IV aid (even if the aid was not received at
your school) must have enrollment reported.

•

If a student you specified does not appear on the Enrollment Maintenance page,
it means that there is no record of that student in the NSLDS database. If this
happens, check with the data provider to determine why the student has not
been added to NSLDS.

Figure 7-25: Student Permanent Address in Enrollment Maintenance
Note: If an address is unknown or not available for a student, report Unknown (‘UK’) in
any of the address fields (Address Line 1, State, City, Country, and Postal Code). If any of
these fields are reported as ‘UK’, the address will not be edited or stored. Address Line 2
remains optional and will be stored as spaces if ‘UK’ is reported. Schools will continue to
report ‘UK’ in future Rosters until the address information becomes available.

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7.9 Updating Historical Enrollment Data
The Enrollment History Update page will allow schools to add, modify, or inactivate
enrollment history data at both the Program- and Campus-level for a student who is
attending or has attended your school. Updating student historical enrollment data
involves three activities:
1. Retrieving the student’s records and selecting the Location where a student is
attending or has previously attended for historical enrollment information to be
displayed.
2. Updating the Campus- and Program-Level Enrollment data in those records.
3. Confirming and certifying the new enrollment data using the Enrollment History
Update Confirm page.
The following section explains how to perform these activities.

Getting Started: The Enrollment History Update
Page
On the NSLDSFAP website Menu page, look for the Enrollment area and click the
Enrollment History Update link. The Enrollment History Update page appears (Figure
7-32: Enrollment History Update). You can also reach the Enrollment History Update
page at any time by clicking the Enroll tab, then click on the Enrollment History
Update link.

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Figure 7-26: Enrollment History Update

Retrieving Your Student’s Historical Enrollment
Records
Before you can make changes to a student enrollment records, you must retrieve the
Student you wish to update. You will need to identify both the student and the location
for which you wish to update enrollment history. If you have accessed the page without
having already selected a student – for example, on the Main Menu or Enrollment
Summary pages, you will need to enter the student identifiers or select from your
Previously Retrieved Borrower list and click Retrieve. If you access the page after
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already selecting a student, or use the Student Search bar at the top of the page, the
page will default to the enrollment history of that student at your school location.
The page displays a student’s full active Campus- and Program-Level enrollment history
at the school user’s location(s) and allows school users to correct previously reported
incorrect data or improper gaps in data.

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Figure 7-27: Enrollment History Update Full Page
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Understanding Historical Enrollment Records
The Enrollment History Update page displays a full history of active Campus- and
Program-Level enrollment at a selected School Location for a particular student. Active
enrollment establishes the complete student enrollment history in NSLDS. The
Enrollment Detail and Program Enrollment Detail pages can be used to verify the active
Campus- and Program-level enrollment statuses that display on the Enrollment History
Update page. The Enrollment History Update page displays the following information:
Location - The drop-down box that allows you to select the eight-digit Office of
Postsecondary Education ID (OPEID) where a student is attending or has previously
attended for historical enrollment information to be displayed.
Note: Schools sharing the same first six-digit OPEID code may have been set up with
a location to serve as the administrator to receive the batch rosters for multiple
locations. All locations with the same administrator may view and update historical
enrollment information for students from all the locations in the group.
The Campus Enrollment section of the page displays a history of a student's active
campus enrollment that has been certified by the school.
•
•
•
•
•

Certification Date-The date as of which you certify the student's enrollment
information is accurate and up-to-date.
Student Designator-School-assigned designation used instead of the SSN to
identify the student.
Anticipated Completion Date-The date the student completed, or is expected
to complete, his or her studies.
Delete-Allows the deletion of an inaccurate campus enrollment record row.
Enrollment Status-The Enrollment Code identifying a student's campus
enrollment status. Valid values are:
o 'A' - Approved Leave of Absence
o 'D' - Deceased
o 'F' - Full Time
o 'G' - Graduated
o 'H' - Half Time
o 'L' - Less Than Half Time
o 'Q' - Three-Quarter Time
o 'W' - Withdrawn
o 'X' - Never Attended
o 'Z' - No Record Found

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Effective Date-The Effective Date is the date when the student's campus status
first took effect.
New Row-Allows the addition of a new campus enrollment record.

The Program Enrollment section of the page displays a history of a student's active
enrollment status for each program.
•
•
•

•
•

•
•
•

CIP Code-The six-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code,
without a period, identifying a program's academic content.
CIP Year- The year corresponding to the CIP code reported.
Credential Level-The Credential Level of the program. Valid values are:
o '01' - Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma Program
o '02' - Associate's Degree
o '03' - Bachelor's Degree
o '04' - Post Baccalaureate Certificate
o '05' - Master's Degree
o '06' - Doctoral Degree
o '07' - First Professional Degree
o '08' - Graduate / Professional Certificate
o '99' - Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework / Teacher
Certification)
Program Length in Yrs-The Program Length in Years as published by the school.
SPI-The Special Program Indicator (SPI) identifies that the program belongs to
one of the following groups:
o 'A' - Special Admission Associate Degree Program
o 'B' - Bachelor's Degree Completion Program
o 'N' - Not Applicable
o 'P' - Preparatory Coursework Graduate Professional Program
o 'T' - Non-Credential Teacher Certification Program
o 'U' - Preparatory Coursework Undergraduate Program
Program Begin Date-The date on which the student began attending the
program.
Delete-Allows the deletion of an inaccurate program enrollment record row.
Enrollment Status-The Program Enrollment Code identifying a student's
program enrollment status. Valid values are:
o 'A' - Approved Leave of Absence
o 'D' - Deceased
o 'F' - Full Time
o 'G' - Graduated
o 'H' - Half Time

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'L' - Less Than Half Time
o 'Q' - Three-Quarter Time
o 'W' - Withdrawn
o 'X' - Never Attended
o 'Z' - No Record Found
Effective Date-The Program Effective Date is the date when the student's
program status first took effect.
New Row- Allows the addition of a new program enrollment record.
o

•
•

Note: An Informational icon will display next to CIP Year when a program's CIP Year is
not 2020.

Updating Historical Enrollment Records
The Enrollment History Update page can assist in easily correcting previously reported
data for a student that may have reporting errors.
To update Campus enrollment history information:
1. Update the following fields as necessary:
a. Enter an up-to-date Certification Date and Anticipated Completion Date.
b. The Student Designator field, a school identifier for the student, is
optional.
c. Update the Enrollment Status and Effective Date, as needed.
2. To delete a row, check the box for any row you wish to remove.
3. To add a new row, click the Add Row Below button to insert a new campus
enrollment status row to the table.
To update Program enrollment history information:
1. Update the following boxes as necessary:
a. SPI (Special Program Indicator)
b. Program Begin Date
c. Enrollment Status (Program Enrollment Status)
d. Eff. Date (Status Effective Date)
2. To delete a row, check the box for any row you wish to remove.
3. To add a new row, click the Add Row Below button to insert a new program
enrollment status row to the table.
When updating enrollment history, keep in mind the following:

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The Reset button at the bottom of the page will redisplay the Enrollment History
Update page with the information it displayed when the page was initially
populated.
In order to remove all previously certified campus and/or program enrollment for
a student, set the Enrollment Status to ‘X’ Never Attended or ‘Z’ No Record
Found and the Effective Date equal to the Program Begin and check the Delete
box for all other rows listed.

•

When a student has been moved from one location to another, the Enrollment
History Update page will display Withdrawn instead of "Moved" as the
enrollment status for Campus-level and Program-level for the prior location.

•

Enrollment History Update is able to process a total of 100 program statuses for a
student at a single location.

To submit changes made to Campus and Program enrollment history
1. Click Submit.
a. Campus and program enrollment history must be submitted at the same
time. Verify ALL information (campus and program) is correct before
submitting
2. If the information submitted passes edits applied by NSLDS, the Enrollment
History Update Confirm page displays.
3. Verify the enrollment information displayed on the Enrollment History Update
Confirm page to make sure it is correct and up-to-date.
4. Click Confirm to apply your changes to the database. The Enrollment History
Update page redisplays with the updated enrollment information (Figure 7-34
Enrollment History Update Page Successfully Updated
a. If you click Cancel, you will be returned to the Enrollment Maintenance
page, where you can continue to correct or change your enrollment data.
5. The Enrollment History Update page redisplays with the updated enrollment
information.

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Figure 7-28 Enrollment History Update Page Successfully Updated

Update and Certify Errors
If the information you submitted contains errors, the Enrollment History Update page
redisplays (Figure 7-29: Enrollment Maintenance Error Message). An error message
appears at the top of the page and a small error icon appears to the left of each row
that contains an error. In the example below, error icons are present at the top of the
page and to the left of the Campus Enrollment and Program Enrollment record row.
Place your cursor over the icon to view the error message associated with that row.

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Figure 7-29: Enrollment History Update Page Error Message

Adding a Program
To add a new Program to an existing student's record:
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1. Click the Add Program button.
2. A new blank program record box will display on the page.
3. Complete the following boxes:
1. CIP Code
2. CIP Year
3. Cred. Level (Credential Level)
4. Program Length in Yrs
5. SPI (Special Program Indicator)
6. Program Begin Date
7. Enrollment Status (Program Enrollment Status)
8. Eff. Date (Status Effective Date)
4. To delete a row, check the box for any row you wish to remove.
5. To add a new row, click the Add Row Below button to insert a new program
enrollment status row to the table.
a. Note: Campus and program enrollment history must be submitted at the
same time. Verify ALL information (campus and program) is correct before
submitting.

Going Further: Program Identifier Changes
As mentioned in Section 4.2.1, a unique program is defined as a combination of the
school’s eight-digit OPEID, the CIP code, the CIP year, the Credential Level, and the
Published Program Length (as reported in or converted to years using the combination
of the Published Program Length, Published Program Length Measurement, and Weeks
in Title IV Academic Year). These fields are commonly known as Program Identifiers. The
Program Enrollment section of the Enrollment History Update page displays a button to
Change Identifiers and CIP Year next to each CIP Code for each program. An
informational icon with ‘Pre-2020 CIP Year’ will display when a program’s CIP Year is
2000 or 2010.
To update the Published Program Length in Years and/or any other program identifiers,
click the Change Identifiers button. After clicking the Change Identifiers button, the
program identifier fields (CIP Code, CIP Year, Credential Level, and Program Length in
Years) are no longer viewable as display only and can be updated, as shown below.

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Figure 7-30: Enrollment History Update Page – Program Identifier Changes
When the Change Identifiers button is clicked, a Revert Back button displays to allow
users the option to undo changes before submitting. Clicking the Revert Back button will
redisplay the Enrollment History Update page with the CIP Code, CIP Year, Credential
Level, Program Length in Years, Special Program Indicator, and Program Begin Date
values as displayed when the page was initially populated.
After submitting and certifying the changes, NSLDS transfers the active enrollment
history from the 2000 or 2010 CIP program to the 2020 CIP program and applies ‘X’
(Never Attended) as the most current, active enrollment status for the 2000 or 2010 CIP
program. Additionally, all the previously active enrollment history on the 2000 or 2010
CIP program is set to inactive.
Edits are in place to ensure accurate reporting of 2020 CIP Year and Program Identifier
Changes.
Errors 80 and 81 are used when reporting a Program Identifier Change (Record Type
004) and there is a conflict with the Current Program and/or New Program records as
described in Tables 7-3 and 7-4.

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Error 80 – New Program
Cannot be an active Program reported for the student on NSLDS
Cannot be reported on the Program-Level Record
Cannot be been reported as Current or New Program in another Program Identifier
Change Record
Table 7-2: Program Identifier Changes – Error 80
Error 81 – Current Program
Is not an active Program reported for the student on NSLDS
Has a non-2020 CIP Year that matches a program with a 2020 CIP year in the
Program-Level Record
Cannot be been reported as Current or New Program in another Program Identifier
Change Record
Table 7-3: Program Identifier Changes – Error 81
Error 82 is used when reporting 2020 CIP Year Program-Level Record and/or Program
Identifier Changes as described in Table 7-5.
Error 82 – CIP Year
Non-2020 CIP Year program reported in the Program-Level Record is the same
program with a 2020 CIP Year
Non-2020 CIP Year program reported in the Program-Level Record already exists with
a 2020 CIP Year on NSLDS
2020 CIP Year program reported in the Program-Level Record has the same program
identifiers as multiple non-2020 CIP Year (2000 and 2010) programs on NSLDS
Current Program reported with 2020 CIP Year in the Program Identifier Change
Record is the same program reported as New Program with a non-2020 CIP Year
Table 7-4: Program Identifier Changes – Error 82

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7.10 Student Contact Information
To report or update student contact information online use the Student Contact
Information page, under the Aid tab, which displays a student’s postal addresses, email
addresses, and phone numbers that have been reported to NSLDS.

Figure 7-31: Student Contact Information

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Schools can use the Add Postal Address, Add Email Address, and Add/Update Phone
Number buttons to report new information for the student. Remember schools are
required to report address information, but email and phone numbers are optional.
Schools can use the Add Postal Address, Add Email Address, and Add/Update Phone
Number buttons to report new information for the student. Remember schools are
required to report address information, but email and phone numbers are optional.

Figure 7-32: Add/Update Student Contact Information
Users with a relationship to the student can view historical (all) and valid (good)
information based on effective dates and the source of the reported address. Schools
that reported contact information for a student can use this page to activate or
deactivate a record. School users from the original reporting school will see checkboxes
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in the 'Good' column.
•

To deactivate a record that was previously known to be good, uncheck the box
and click Update.

•

To activate a record that was previously known to be historical, check the box
and click Update.

7.11 Enrollment Reporting Profile
The Enrollment Reporting Profile page displays the set up for organizations that report
or receive enrollment status information about students receiving federal student aid.
The Profile includes file preferences, administrator relationships for different locations,
and the reporting schedule one year into the future and one year from the past. Based
on the users’ security access or use of an Enrollment Reporting Servicer, update
capability is initiated from this page. Each section of the Profile will be reviewed in this
section.

The Enrollment Reporting Profile Page
On the NSLDSFAP website Menu page, look for the Enrollment tab and click Enrollment
Reporting Profile on the navigation bar. The Enrollment Profile page appears (Figure
7-26).
You can also reach the Enrollment Reporting Profile page at any time by clicking the
Enroll tab. This will cause the Enrollment Summary page to appear. Then look for the
navigation bar at the top of the page (for Enrollment the color bar is teal) and click
Enrollment Reporting Profile.
The Enrollment Reporting Profile page allows authorized users to view and update
school selections for Portfolio Type, file Preferences, Enrollment Administration, and the
Enrollment Reporting Schedule. These selections are described below.
Under the Enrollment Reporting Profile title are also six selection buttons which allow
school and ED users with necessary permissions to navigate to the following pages:
•

Enrollment Reporting Statistics— the Enrollment Reporting Statistics page
displays information about the extent and quality of the enrollment reporting
provided by schools participating in the federal student aid programs. School
users can view the previous year's enrollment reporting statistics for their school
or for any of their school's locations. Additionally, the page displays information
about late Roster notifications sent to the school or school locations during the
previous six months. Enrollment Reporting Statistics are calculated and

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published during the third week of each month. See Chapter 8 for more
information.
•

Certification by Quarter— the Enrollment Certification by Quarter page displays
a quarterly count by enrollment status of certifications received by NSLDS during
the four most recent fiscal quarters. Run at the end of the quarter, this report
evaluates the last enrollment status reported per student that updated NSLDS
during that quarter. See Chapter 8 for more information.

•

Enrollment Submittal Tracking—the Enrollment Submittal Tracking page
displays information about Enrollment batch Rosters and submittals, and online
Enrollment Maintenance activity. School users can view this information for their
school or any of their school's locations. See Chapter 8 for more information.

•

Ad Hoc Roster Request— the Ad Hoc Roster Request page allows school users
to request an ad hoc Roster outside their regular reporting schedule for their own
location, or for any location at their school sharing the same enrollment
administrator. ED users can request an ad hoc Roster for any location at any
school. The request is effective immediately, and the Roster is generated the next
time the batch program runs. See Section 7.11.1.5 for more information

•

Roster Reset —the Roster Reset page allows authorized users to push all
students who have appeared on a school location’s enrollment Roster, at any
time since the user-specified “As Of Date,” back onto the location’s current
Roster. School users can reset the Roster for their own school location and any
locations they administer. See Section 7.11.1.6 for more information

•

Perkins Notification Setup— the Perkins Notification Setup page allows a
school to indicate its desire to participate in the enrollment notification process
by entering a designated SAIG Mailbox (TG Number). The school provides the
mailbox to which certified enrollment records of students for whom it holds
Perkins loans will be sent in a weekly notification file. The Notification File format
can be found on the Knowledge Center, NSLDS User Resources, and NSLDS
Record Layouts and Appendix H. For more information on this process refer to
Perkins Technical Update, PK-2012-02: Enhancements to NSLDS Enrollment
Reporting Including Perkins Data Providers Enrollment Notification Setup.

Portfolio Type
On the Enrollment Reporting Profile Page, you can select Portfolio Type beneath the
three selection buttons listed above. The box allows you to specify a Portfolio Type. If
you have entered an SAIG Mailbox (TG Number) to indicate that you want to receive
Enrollment Notification files, this selection allows you to choose to view the school’s
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enrollment reporting profile for the reporting process or the school’s enrollment
reporting profile for the enrollment notification process.

Figure 7-33: Enrollment Reporting Profile – Portfolio Type
The selection of the Portfolio Type will display the appropriate schedule for reporting
files (when ‘School’ is selected) or receiving notification files (when Perkins Lender is
selected.)

Figure 7-34: Enrollment Reporting Profile

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Enrollment Reporting Profile – Preferences
The Preferences section displays established enrollment reporting values. In this section,
you will notify NSLDS of the new file type you want to use. Once the preferences are
selected, NSLDS will begin generating the Roster files in the format and file type that
you designate. For schools using an Enrollment Servicer, the Servicer will establish the
reporting preferences.
The preferences are defined as follows:
•

•

•

•

Destination SAIG Mailbox- the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) TG mailbox
established to send and receive enrollment files. This is not an updatable field.
TG mailbox changes are handled on fsawebenroll.ed.gov.
Servicer Name (Schools Only)- for schools that signed up to use a third-party
servicer to respond to NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Roster files, the name of the
servicer as provided by SAIG. This is not an updatable field. TG mailbox changes
are handled on fsawebenroll.ed.gov.
Administrator Name (Schools Only)- the name of the designated administrator
if one has been established for the retrieved location. Schools may report for
their own campus location or set up another location for administration of the
Enrollment Reporting process. The administrator set up is completed on the
Enrollment Reporting Profile Page under the Enrollment Administration section.
Roster Format (Schools Only)- default is Single File. For schools that use an
Administrator, the Administrator may choose:
−
−

•

Records Received (Non-schools Only)- the type of notification records
received:
−
−

•

All Records
Changes Only

File Type- the selected report layout style. Valid values are:
−
−

•

Single File - A single file containing all the students for all locations.
Multiple Files - Separate files for each of the locations for which the
administrator will report.

Fixed Width File
Comma Separated Values (schools only)

Sort Order- the method selected to retrieve and display student enrollment
records. Valid values are:
−
−

Student SSN
Student Last Name

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You can change a preference value by selecting the Update button under the
Preferences section. If the Update button does not appear, the school location has an
Administrator or servicer, and only the Administrator or servicer can update the
preference values.

Figure 7-35: Enrollment Reporting Profile- Preferences

Enrollment Reporting Profile – Preferences Update
The Enrollment Reporting Preference Update page allows you to establish or change the
enrollment reporting preferences displayed on the Enrollment Reporting Profile page.
Drop-down selections provide the preference options listed in Figure 7-42: Enrollment
Reporting Preferences Update. In some cases, schools who use a Servicer will not be
able to update the preferences.

Figure 7-36: Enrollment Reporting Preferences Update
Submit and confirm to establish new preference selection.
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Figure 7-37: Enrollment Reporting Preferences – Selection Updated

Enrollment Reporting Profile – Enrollment Administration
The Enrollment Administration section displays all the locations at a given school that
have student records on NSLDS. Users at school locations can designate any active
location sharing their main campus’ OPEID to administer their Enrollment Reporting
responsibilities. This location then becomes responsible for receiving and returning
enrollment reporting Rosters for all locations for which it is the administrator.
Locations that have not signed up for the enrollment reporting batch service through
fsawebenroll.ed.gov will be assigned to the Enrollment Administrator at the lowest
numbered location that is set up for Enrollment Reporting.
•

Administered By- This row identifies OPEID and name of the school location
responsible for receiving enrollment Roster files and establishing file preferences
for locations listed below it. The rows below the Administered By row list the
OPEID and the name of the school locations serviced by that Enrollment
Administrator.

To assign or change an administrator, click the Update button. Select an Administered
By location from the drop-down list, and then click Submit. Review your selection, and
then click Confirm.

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Figure 7-38: Enrollment Administration

Enrollment Reporting Profile – Enrollment Administration
Update
The Update button below the Enrollment Administration section opens a new page
where any school user at the main campus OPEID can establish or revise the
Administration set up. More than one location can serve as an administrator. Figure 7-44
shows an administration that has been established regionally.
To assign or change an administrator, click the Update button. Select an Administered
By location from the drop-down list, and then click Submit. Review your selection, and
then click Confirm.

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Figure 7-39: Enrollment Administration Update
In this example, the Midwest location, 06789903, will now receive enrollment records for
the 06789900, 06789903, 06789904, and 06789905 locations. The New England location,
06789901, will administer themselves. The Seattle location, 06789906, will receive the
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enrollment records for 06789906, and 06789907. The Mobile location, 06789903, will
receive their records and those for the 06789909 and 06789902 locations.
The Administrator determines file preferences. So, in the example above, the
06789902location could not go online and change the file type that has been
established by the 06789908. However, if they decide they want to do their own
reporting they can update the administration set up to receive Rosters and choose the
preferences for the files they would receive.

Enrollment Reporting Profile – Enrollment Reporting Schedule
When a school signs up for Enrollment Reporting Services through FSAWebenroll,
unless the school selects a reporting schedule, the default schedule determined by the
Department will be assigned. As schools are required to report no less frequently than
every 60 days, the default schedule is set at every other month. You may wish to change
this default schedule to reflect accurately the frequency of enrollment changes at your
school, as well as your own need for timely enrollment data. Schedule information is
provided on the Enrollment Reporting Profile Page.
The Future Schedule and Past Schedule section displays the upcoming schedule for your
school up to one year in the future and shows the dates for the past one year of
previously generated Rosters. The page displays the following information:
•

•

•
•

Date— the date when NSLDS sent or will send an Enrollment Reporting Roster, if
the organization is a school, or a Notification file if the organization is a federal
loan servicer, guaranty agency, lender, lender servicer, or Perkins Loan school.
Dates are displayed up to one year into the future and the past.
Type— the type of file that NSLDS will send the organization. Valid values are:
−

Scheduled - A regularly scheduled file. When NSLDS sends an organization
a regular file, it automatically schedules another such file for one year in
the future.

−

Ad Hoc - A file generated for some special reason and not as part of the
organization's regular schedule. When NSLDS sends an organization an ad
hoc file, it does not automatically schedule another such file for one year
in the future.

Purpose— this field allows users to provide a reason for the scheduled or Ad Hoc
Roster (e.g., drop/add dates, term begin, or term end).
Created By— the User ID of whoever created or updated the schedule that
caused the generation of a particular scheduled item and, in parentheses, the
date created. Valid values are:

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−

Original Schedule - The date the organization originally signed-up with
NSLDS.

−

User Name - The online user who updated the schedule or requested an
Ad Hoc file.

Figure 7-40: Enrollment Reporting Schedule

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Enrollment Reporting Profile – Enrollment Reporting
Schedule Update
The enrollment reporting schedule can be changed by creating a new schedule or
updating the schedule that appears on the Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update
Page shown in Figure 7-47: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update.

Figure 7-41: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update

Creating a New Enrollment Reporting Schedule
This selection allows you to delete your school’s existing reporting schedule and create
a new one. Submitting a Start Date and a Frequency will create a sample schedule based
on those parameters.

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To create a new schedule:
1. On the Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update page, click Create New Schedule. The
Enrollment Reporting Schedule Create page appears (Figure 7-48: Enrollment
Reporting Schedule Create).

Figure 7-42: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Create
2. In the Start Date box, type a valid date greater than or equal to the current date and
less than or equal to the current date plus 1 year.
In the Frequency box, click a selection. Valid frequencies for schools are:
•

Every Week

•

Every Two Weeks

•

Every Month

•

Every Two Months (Default)

3. Click Submit. If you entered a valid start date and frequency, the Enrollment
Reporting Schedule Create Confirm page appears (Figure 7-49: Enrollment Reporting
Schedule Create Confirm).

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Figure 7-43: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Create Confirm
4. Click Confirm. NSLDS now voids the original schedule and replaces it with the one
you just created. The Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update page appears again,
displaying your Schedule successfully created.
You can also discard your new schedule by clicking Cancel. The Enrollment Reporting
Schedule Create page appears again, showing your original schedule.

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Figure 7-44: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Successfully Created

Updating an Enrollment Reporting Schedule
Working with either a newly created schedule or the previously displayed schedule
without creating a new one, you can modify the schedule on the Enrollment Reporting
Schedule Update page. To change the schedule displayed on the update page you may:
1. Remove an existing schedule item:
−

Click the Cancel box for that item.

2. Change date for an existing schedule item:
−

Type over a date in the Date box with a valid future date in mm/dd/ccyy
format.

3. Add a reason for the scheduled item:
4. Enter the Purpose for this scheduled item. This can be helpful for reminders to
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set future items, such as drop/add deadline, term end date, etc.
5. Add new items to the schedule:
−

Click Add Row to add another row to the Update Schedule form.

−

In the Date box, type a valid date greater than or equal to the current date
and less than or equal to the current date plus one year.

−

In the Purpose box, type a reason for the scheduled item.

Figure 7-45: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update
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6. Click Submit.
7. If your updates create a valid schedule, the Enrollment Reporting Schedule
Update Confirm page displays the new schedule. Click Confirm to apply the
changes to NSLDS or Cancel to return to the entry page.
Note: If the updates produce a schedule that does not pass the edits applied by NSLDS,
Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update redisplays with the appropriate error message. It
also places error icons in front of specific schedule items that failed edits. Place your
cursor over an icon to display the error message for that item as a ToolTip.
Your personalized schedule now displays as part of the Enrollment Reporting Profile
page.

Figure 7-46: Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update

Ad Hoc Roster Request
Using the Enrollment Reporting Preference top button labeled Ad Hoc Roster Request,
makes requesting an ad hoc enrollment reporting Roster as easy as a single click. The
Ad Hoc Roster Request page allows school users to request an ad hoc Roster outside
their regular reporting schedule for their own location, or for any location at their school
sharing the same enrollment administrator. ED users can request an ad hoc Roster for
any location at any school. The request is effective immediately, and the Roster is
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generated the next time the batch program runs.
Click the button to display the Ad Hoc Roster Request page as shown in Figure 7-53:
Ad Hoc Roster Request.

Figure 7-47: Ad Hoc Roster Request
To request an Ad Hoc Roster:
1. Check the Select box next to the school location for which an Ad Hoc Roster is to be
generated.
2. When more than one location displays, request by:
a. Clicking the check box to the left of the location's Code and School Name, or
b. Selecting all the records displayed on the page by clicking Check All at the
top of the form.
3. Click Submit.
Note: Ad Hoc requests are displayed in the schedule on the Enrollment Reporting
Profile page, but only for the location currently displayed on that page. Users at
locations that serve as Enrollment Administrators will see ad hoc requests for all the
locations they administer on the Enrollment Reporting Schedule Update page. Users at
administered locations will only see their own ad hoc requests on that page.
The successful request displays at the top of the Enrollment Reporting Profile page as
well as inserting a new line in the future schedule section. Once the Ad Hoc Roster has
been generated, the Ad Hoc request date will display in the Past Schedule section.
National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) is now able to make Ad Hoc Roster requests on
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behalf of the school they service. These requests will display “National Student
Clearinghouse Request” in the Purpose field under the Future or Past Schedule section.

Figure 7-48: NSC Ad Hoc Roster Request

Roster Reset
The Roster Reset page is accessible through the Enrollment Reporting Profile page. The
Roster Reset page allows users to push back onto a school location’s current Roster all
students who had appeared on a school location’s previous enrollment Roster(s) since a
user specified “As Of Date”. This functionality will assist schools in reporting students
whose graduation was not reported to NSLDS before the student was removed from
subsequent Roster files sent to the school by NSLDS.
School users can restore students to the Roster for their own school location and any
locations they administer. Roster Resets can only be changed or deleted on the same
day they are requested and will be processed that night.

Figure 7-49: Roster Reset
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Warning: Submitting a Roster Reset may cause students with terminal
statuses such as Graduated or Withdrawn to reappear on your roster.
Failure to recertify the enrollment status of those students will
negatively impact your school's Enrollment Reporting statistics.
Please contact NSLDS Customer Service if you have questions about
whether and when to use Roster Reset function.
Enrollment Notification Override List
The Enrollment Notification Override List page displays a history of overrides for
notification records for specific students or schools that have been requested to ensure
the reporting of any certification(s) to a loan holder for that student or school. Some
loan holders request that they receive only records that indicate a change in the
enrollment status code, the enrollment status effective date, or the anticipated
completion date. This override ensures that every certified record will be sent in the
enrollment notification file for either that student or that school.
The begin date is the date the request is made (by a loan holder or ED User or Customer
Service). The override will continue until the requestor returns to the page to end the
override. The override is only for notification files; therefore, only a school that receives
notification files for its Perkins Loan portfolio is authorized for the Enrollment
Notification Override function. Schools with concerns that a loan holder is not receiving
their enrollment certifications may call or email the NSLDS Customer Support Center
(CSC) at 1-800-999-8219 to request an override.

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Figure 7-50: Enrollment Notification Override List

7.12 Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal
Federal regulations governing Title IV student aid programs require schools to monitor
and update the enrollment status of students who receive Federal Student Loans. The
New Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal process was created to assist schools in
reporting enrollment information at the campus and Program-Level on the NSLDS
Professional Access Web site. This process will allow a school to create new
spreadsheets containing enrollment information or to be able to respond to enrollment
Rosters from NSLDS generated in the Comma Separated Values (CSV) format.
These instructions have been created to assist schools with the creation of the
spreadsheet, and with the usage of the online tool.

Process Overview
The Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal is an online tool used by schools to submit
enrollment data for Title IV students to NSLDS. Users can create their own spreadsheets
or can populate the enrollment data on the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal Format.
The Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal Format has been made available on the
Knowledge Center to assist with ensuring the data in the spreadsheet is correctly
identified for submission. Additionally, the spreadsheet can be used to create an Ad Hoc
Roster or to update an Enrollment Roster in CSV format received from NSLDS. The
following sections describe both processes in detail.
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Spreadsheet Creation
The spreadsheet can be created with the first row containing the field names, found in
Appendix A-3 or on the Submittal Format downloaded from the Knowledge Center or
without the field names. Each method will be described in the following sub-sections.
NSLDS does not have a preferred method. The decision whether to include this row is
done at the discretion of the user. When creating the spreadsheet, the New Submittal
Spreadsheet File layout found in Appendix A-3 must be used as a reference.
It is imperative that the user created spreadsheet be saved in a secure manner. It is
recommended that the spreadsheet have a unique name so that it can be easily
identified during the upload process. Please ensure that when saving the file, it is saved
as a spreadsheet file in a format with an extension of .xls or .xlsx (Excel™ format). Any
other extensions will cause the entire file to be rejected.
The spreadsheet has a file size limit of 1,000 KB (1 MB). Any file size over this limit will
cause the spreadsheet to be rejected. If this happens, the user can split the data into
separate files and submit each file separately. The file size varies depending on the
version of software used.

Rename Worksheet
The first step in creating the spreadsheet is to rename the worksheet that will be utilized
for data entry, and subsequent data upload. The name of this worksheet must be named
“upload file” in order to upload to NSLDS. To rename the worksheet:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Right click on the worksheet tab name (Figure 7-56).
Select Rename.
When the current name of the tab is highlighted, type “upload file”.
Click out of the tab and the name will be stored (Figure 7-57).

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Figure 7-51: Rename Worksheet

Figure 7-52: Renamed Worksheet
NSLDS will look for a worksheet with the name “upload file”. If the worksheet has any
other name, NSLDS will attempt to load the data found in the first tab, or Sheet 1, of the
spreadsheet. If Sheet 1 is empty, the user will receive the message “Spreadsheet has no
data”. It is suggested that the worksheet be correctly labeled for upload.
Also, NSLDS will only process one worksheet per spreadsheet, per upload. Any other
worksheets will be ignored if they are present in the file, as will any records they may
contain. If there are additional sheets that need to be submitted, after the first
worksheet is uploaded, the school can rename the initial uploaded file to a different
name and name the next sheet to “upload file”. Submit the file to NSLDS again, and the
new page will be uploaded.

Spreadsheet with Field Names
When creating the spreadsheet with field names, the names of the fields appearing in
the Submittal Spreadsheet Layout, as listed in Appendix A-3, are to be created by the
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user. The names of the fields must precisely match those presented in the Enrollment
Reporting Guide and each name must be contained within an individual column. The
names of the fields will appear in Row One, beginning in column A with “Record Type
(All)” and ending in column AY with “New Special Program Indicator (004)”. The school
will be completing data for submittal in columns A through AY depending on the data
being certified. The user created spreadsheet submittal does not require the inclusion of
the Header and Trailer Records as other file layouts do.

Figure 7-53: Spreadsheet Creation with Field Names
Fields identified as optional do not require data to be provided. However, the column
for the field names must still appear in the spreadsheet, even if the data is not being
supplied, as shown in Figure 7-59: Spreadsheet Creation with Field Names and Empty
Optional Fields.

Figure 7-54: Spreadsheet Creation with Field Names and Empty Optional Fields

Spreadsheet without Field Names
When creating the spreadsheet without field names, Row One of the spreadsheet will
contain the first student detail record beginning in column A and ending in column AY
depending on the data being certified. The student detail record is to be completed a
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single row at a time beginning in Row One of the spreadsheet, with additional records
appearing in Row Two and so on. The spreadsheet submittal does not require the
inclusion of the Header and Trailer Records as other file layouts do.

Figure 7-55: Spreadsheet Creation without Field Names
Fields identified as optional do not require data to be provided. However, the column
for the field must still appear in the spreadsheet, even if the data is not being supplied,
as shown in Figure 7-61.

Figure 7-56: Spreadsheet Creation without Field Names and Empty Optional Fields

Data Entry
The spreadsheet can be populated with data by typing the data in manually, cutting and
pasting from another source, or importing the data into the spreadsheet from another
data source or toolset. Spreadsheets assume that all numbers typed into them are going
to be used for math purposes. Therefore, it automatically removes any zero which
precedes a number, as is the case for an OPEID. For example, if the OPEID is typed in as
“06789900” it may appear in the spreadsheet as “6789900”.
When entering data for detail records it is important that only one record type is
entered per row. The first three columns (columns A–C) will be the same for all record
types for a single student; these columns will contain the Record Type, Student Current
SSN, and OPEID.
After column C, the different record types will offset as not to overlap with each other,
so every column heading will be unique. Some columns may be used in multiple record
types to allow for the addition of new fields without changing where the existing fields
are located:
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o Campus-Level Records (record type 001) will use columns D–AC of the
spreadsheet. (One per student)


Columns AD–AF of the spreadsheet are filler.



There will only be one Campus Level row per student, per location.

o Program-Level Records (record type 002) will use columns AG–AP of the
spreadsheet. (Zero or more per student)


Each program for a student will occupy a new row.

o Email Address records (record type 003) will use columns AT–AV of the
spreadsheet. Optional. (Zero or more per student)
o Program Identifier Change records (record type 004) will use columns AG–
AL, AQ-AS, AU, and AW-AY of the spreadsheet. (Zero or more per student)


Each program change for a student will occupy a new row.

For example, Terri Certificate (Student A in Figure 7-62) is a student enrolled in one
program, has one email address and a program identifier change.
1. The first three columns (A–C) of each record type for Terri must match.
2. Terri’s first detail record will be for the Campus-Level data.
a. Start entering campus data in columns A–AC, as necessary, but
leave the remainder of the columns (AD–AY) blank.
3. Terri’s next detail record will be for the Program-Level data.
a. Skip columns D–AF and start entering the program data in columns
AG–AP, as necessary, but leave the remainder of the columns (AQ–
AV) blank.
b. If Terri is enrolled in more than one program, each program would
occupy a new row in the spreadsheet.
4. Terri’s third detail record will be for Email Address, which will also occupy a
new row in the spreadsheet.
a. Skip columns D–AS and start entering email data in columns AT–AV,
as necessary, but leave the remainder of the columns (AW–AY)
blank.
b. If Terri has more than one email address, each email address would
occupy a new row in the spreadsheet.
5. Terri’s last detail record will be for the Program Identifier Change data.
a. Skip columns D–AF and start entering the current program’s
identifiers in columns AG–AL, but leave the columns AM–AP blank.
b. Then enter the new program’s identifiers in columns AQ-AS and
leave column AT blank.
c. Continue entering the new program’s identifiers in column AU,
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leaving column AV blank.
d. Finally, enter the remaining of the new program’s identifiers in
columns AW-AY
e. If Terri has more than one previously reported incorrect program,
each program would occupy a new row in the spreadsheet.
All record types for each student must be grouped, or “bundled” together. The following
graph shows a high-level example of how a spreadsheet submittal for Student A and B
would appear:
Column A - C

D - AC

AD - AF

‘001’ Student A

Campus-Level

Filler

‘002’ Student A

Filler

‘003’ Student A

Filler

'004' Student A

Filler

‘001’ Student B

Campus-Level

AG - AL

AM - AP

Program-Level

Program-Level

AQ - AS

AT

Email
Current Program

New Program

AU

AV

Email

Email

New Program

AW-AY

New Program

Filler

‘002’ Student B

Filler

Program-Level

‘002’ Student B

Filler

Program-Level

‘003’ Student B

Filler

Email

Email

Email

Figure 7-57: Spreadsheet Format Example
The submittal of student detail record data works with the bundle concept. When a
school sends a Roster Submittal to NSLDS, the school must group the records for a
given student in a single bundle ordered by record type (See Figure 7-62).

If any record types for a student have an error, the entire bundle for that student will be
rejected with a Bundle Rejected (02) error. All records for that student will need to be
resubmitted after the errors are corrected.
The final column (AZ) will be the same for all record types and will consist of the Bundle
Rejected and other Error Codes, populated by NSLDS. School users should not enter
information in these columns.

The purpose of the File Type Offset field in each data record type is to allow schools that
are importing the CSV file into a spreadsheet to have the data field columns of each
record type align to a unique column header for each data field. This will make
updating the file easier for those who use the Spreadsheet Submittal process.

Formatting
Spreadsheet upload was created with various types of formatting issues in mind. While
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some Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal fields have specific formatting requirements,
others do not. Please refer to Appendix A-3 or Appendix A and B of the Enrollment
Spreadsheet Submittal Instruction Guide, available on the Knowledge Center for the
formatting of specific fields.
Additionally, the reporting requirements (Mandatory/Optional) for each field are listed
in Appendix A-3. Please note that for Record Type 001 - Campus-Level, the student’s
phone number fields are considered optional; however, if a phone number is entered all
associated fields must be populated (Columns Y-AA). The same is true for the entire
Record Type 003 - Email Address record as it is considered optional, but if an email
address is entered all fields in the record must be populated (Columns AT-AV).

Updating a Roster
While defining the Enrollment Preferences, on the NSLDS Enrollment Profile section of
the NSLDS Professional Access Web site, the user has the option of selecting to receive
an Enrollment Roster formatted as Comma Separated Values (CSV). The Roster will be
created in CSV format and delivered to the schools’ SAIG TG mailbox based on the
established enrollment reporting schedule. This Roster format can be updated using
spreadsheet software and submitted to NSLDS using the Enrollment Submittal page on
the NSLDS Professional Access (NSLDSFAP) Web site and does not need to be returned
using SAIG.

Using a CSV File
The CSV formatted Enrollment Roster, when retrieved from the SAIG TG mailbox, has
either a .DAT extension or a 3-digit numbered extension (e.g. .001, .002, etc.). In order to
utilize this file in spreadsheet software, this file needs to be saved using a .CSV
extension. This is accomplished by either opening the file and saving it with a .CSV
extension or merely renaming the file with the .CSV extension.
Once the file has the .CSV extension, the securely stored file may be opened using
spreadsheet software by locating the file. The following steps may help you with this
operation; however, please consult the help information for the specific spreadsheet
software being used as software may vary slightly.
•
•

Using EDconnect, download the Enrollment Roster in the message class
EFRCDEOP from the SAIG TG mailbox to a secure location
Locate the downloaded Enrollment Roster file. (File will have either a .DAT
or a 3-digit numbered extension. Example: efrcdeop.dat, efrcdeop.001,

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•
•
•
•
•

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etc.)
Save or rename the file using the .CSV extension (Example: efrcdeop.csv)
Open the spreadsheet software tool
Click File
Click Open
Locate the previously saved file with the .CSV extension
o The file type being browsed may need to be adjusted for the file
to be located.
o This is typically done using a drop-down box:

Figure 7-58: File Extension Drop-Down Box
•
•

Select the file name
Click Open

The file should now open in the spreadsheet software. The first row will be the Header
Record and the last row will be the Trailer Record. These records are on the file when it
is created by NSLDS and need to be deleted from the spreadsheet prior to using the
Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal process.
The purpose of the File Type Offset field in each data record type on the CSV Roster file
is to allow schools that are importing the CSV file into a spreadsheet to have the data
field columns of each record type align to a unique column header for each data field.
This will make updating the file easier for those who use the Spreadsheet Submittal
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process.
If you have previously downloaded the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal Format
(available on the Knowledge Center, the column Field Names (Row One) from this
document may be copied and inserted into the spreadsheet now open. The column
headings found in the document may assist you with locating the necessary information
to be updated, but do not have to be used. The spreadsheet may be submitted with or
without the column headings but should not include a header and trailer record.
Once all updates have been made to the Enrollment Roster, please ensure that the file is
stored in a secure manner and saved in a format with an .xls or .xlsx extension (Excel™
format), rather than the .CSV extension. The file must have this format for the web site
to recognize it for submittal.

Uploading an Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal
File
Enrollment Submittal Page
The Enrollment Submittal page is found under the Enroll tab on the NSLDS Professional
Access Web site (NSLDSFAP) and allows school users the ability to report Enrollment
status changes via spreadsheet submittal. Access to this page is limited to users with
Enrollment capabilities.
The page allows the user to use the Browse function to search for the submittal file and
upload it from the location where it is securely stored. Because of the sensitivity of the
information included in the file, it must be saved in a secure manner on the local hard
drive of the user’s computer or stored in a secure manner on an external medium such
as a flash drive or network. Once the file is located, the user will then need to select the
manner for which errors, if any, will be returned.

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Figure 7-59: Enrollment Submittal Page

Enrollment Submittal Page Results Presentation
After the Enrollment spreadsheet has been uploaded a validation is done to identify any
errors in the file. There are several different ways errors can be displayed. The following
section explains the use of each option. The default options appear but a school may
select other options in each selection prior to clicking the Validate or Validate and
Submit buttons.

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Figure 7-60: Results Presentation
•

Rows in Result File–Indicates what rows will be returned after validation has been
completed. The default is Result File contains all rows submitted.
• Result File contains all rows submitted–All rows on the submittal spreadsheet
will be present in the Result File. Records with one or more errors will have data
present in the error columns and records without errors will have no data present
in the error columns.
• Result File contains only input rows with errors–Only rows from the submittal
spreadsheet that contain one or more errors will be included in the result file.

•

Background color for cells with error in Result File–Indicates what color the cells
which contain errors will be after validation has completed. Data cells with errors will
be indicated by a color highlight. The default is Yellow background for errors.

•

Mouseover comment for cells with error in Result File–Indicates whether the
Result file, which is created after validation has completed, contains comments which
appear when the mouse is moved over the field containing the errors. Regardless of
the selection made, the error codes and messages will appear on the far right-hand
side of the spreadsheet Results file. The default is Add comment to error cell.
- Add comments to error cell–A red Tooltip triangle will appear in the cell which
houses the field in error. When the computer mouse is moved over a field with an
error, the error message(s) applicable to this field will appear on the screen.
- Do not add comment to error cell–The red Tooltip triangle will not appear.

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Validate/Validate and Submit–There are two options for validating data.
- Validate–The system will review all data in the spreadsheet for errors. No data
will be loaded to NSLDS during the validation process. Result data will be
presented to the user according to the Result File preference selected. This allows
for errors to be corrected before submitting the file. To load the data to NSLDS,
the upload process MUST be repeated by selecting the Validate and Submit
button.
- Validate and Submit–The system will review and validate all data in the
spreadsheet, even if it was previously validated. Any data without error will be
submitted and stored in NSLDS. Result data will be presented to the user
according to the Result File preference selected.

The user MUST click the Validate and Submit button
for the data to be processed and updated on NSLDS.
Once the submittal file has been validated, by either the Validate or Validate and
Submit, a message will display on the screen with the number of records in error and
the number of total records in the spreadsheet. A pop-up box will appear with the
option to Open, Save or Cancel the Result File created by the submission.

Figure 7-61: Number of Errors Example
If Open is selected, the Result File will open in the computer’s default spreadsheet
software and the errors in Column AZ will be presented in the manner previously
selected on the Enrollment Submittal Web page. The file will retain the same name as it
was uploaded, however “- Results” will be appended to the end of the name. For
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example, if the name of the spreadsheet submitted is “Enrollment.xlsx” then the name of
the Results file will be “Enrollment – Results.xlsx”.

Working Errors
All records are validated against the edits described in Appendix D, and in Appendix B of
the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal Instruction Guide available on the Knowledge
Center, and any errors will be identified in Column AZ of the Results file, and in pop-up
mouseover comments if that option was selected.

Figure 7-62: Results File with Yellow Highlight and Tool Tip
Users can make corrections to the data in the Results file or the original submittal file.
Additionally, the user can rename the Results file prior to re-submitting it in order to
keep a record of what has been submitted. Regardless of which method is used, any
records with errors must be re-submitted to NSLDS for processing.

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Figure 7-63: Results File with Error Column
If records or rows need to be removed from the worksheet, the Delete row function
must be used in order to ensure that all data is removed from the spreadsheet. NSLDS
does not recommend using the Clear function the spreadsheet software provides.

7.13 Enrollment Reporting by Batch
Batch Enrollment Data Transmission: The Basics
The Batch Enrollment Reporting process involves transmitting files electronically over
SAIG, and this chapter will explain how you can do so. Schools with a large population
find batch processing to be an efficient method of data exchange. In batch processing,
the Enrollment Detail records are received from NSLDS as a single file (the Enrollment
Reporting Roster file), fully processed in your school’s (or servicer’s) computing
environment, and then transmitted back to NSLDS—again as a single file (the Submittal
File). This is the most efficient method for processing large quantities of data.
The Department’s SAIG is used to send and receive batch enrollment data electronically.
You can log into SAIG from a mainframe computer or personal computer (PC) to send
and receive data through the SAIG facility for batch file processing. You must have the
latest EDconnect software or another mainframe process to retrieve the file from your
SAIG mailbox.

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1. NSLDS Transmits
Roster File or Error/
Acknowledgment
File to School’s
Mailbox

Chapter 7

School’s SAIG
Mailbox

2. School retrieves
Roster File or Error/
Acknowledgement
File from its mailbox

NSLDS

School

4. NSLDS retrieves
Submittal File or
Error Correction File
from its mailbox

School’s SAIG
Mailbox

3. School transmits
Submittal File or
Error Correction File
to NSLDS mailbox

Figure 7-64: Enrollment Reporting Batch Process Flow

If you have questions or problems downloading the roster
file from SAIG, call CPS/SAIG Technical Support at
1-800-330-5947
To provide greater flexibility in reporting enrollment data, NSLDS has implemented
additional file types. Schools indicate the file format on the Enrollment Reporting Profile
Preferences section on the NSLDSFAP website, and NSLDS will initiate the batch Roster
file in that format type and format preference. (See the Online section for instructions
on entering file preferences.)

Identifying Your File Type
The file types are:
•

Fixed-width – a fixed length flat file.

•

Comma-separated value (CSV) – flat file with data separated by commas rather

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than each field required to be a required byte length. This option allows schools
to use spreadsheet software or other school software and convert the data easily
into a transmittable file.

Identifying Your Data: Message Classes
NSLDS transmits the Enrollment Reporting Roster file to your SAIG electronic mailbox
on the Enrollment Reporting Schedule created by your school. You can then retrieve the
Enrollment Reporting Roster file from your mailbox using either mainframe or PC
communications software. The following message classes for the fixed-width and CSV
file types are used when transmitting enrollment data via SAIG to identify the type of file
being sent or received.
Message Classes for Enrollment Data
Message
Class

Process Flow

SAIG Mailbox
(send/receive)

EFRFLEOP

From
processor
(NSLDS) to
school/servicer

School/Servicer Fixed Width
receives from
TG53162

EFRCDEOP

EFSFLEIN

Format

Comma
Delimited

From
school/servicer
to processor
(NSLDS)

School/Servicer Fixed Width
sends to
TG53163

EFSCDEIN

Comma
Delimited

Description
Enrollment
Reporting
Roster File sent
to your school
by NSLDS on
the schedule
created by
your school.
Completed
Submittal File
or Error
Correction File
that is returned
to NSLDS.

Table 7-5: Message Classes for Enrollment Data
Each Roster file has the following structure:
•

Header, Detail, and Trailer Records—Each Enrollment Reporting Roster file

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contains a single Header record, multiple Detail records, and a single Trailer
record. The Header record identifies the source of the file and the file’s
preparation/creation date. The Detail records, one or more bundles of detail
records for each student, contain current information on file with NSLDS in the
mandatory fields as well as data that has been supplied by the school in optional
fields. The record layouts identify the certification date as part of each bundle of
detail records. The Trailer record shows the number of Detail records contained in
the file.
•

Format Data—Any Detail records added, or data added, updated, or changed
must be formatted according to the selected layout type and field definition
specifications in Appendix A. Verify changes and check for formatting errors
before returning the Submittal File to NSLDS.

•

Record Sequence Numbers/Record Type—Each Detail record begins with a
Record Sequence or Record Type Number, which NSLDS uses to ensure security
and auditability. Sequence Numbers are sorted by NSLDS in ascending order. Do
not change the Record Sequence Number.

•

Student Identifiers—Each Detail record contains five student identifiers. Three of
the five student identifiers are also record identifiers, which NSLDS uses to match
Detail records in its database against Detail records returned in the school
Submittal File. The student identifiers uniquely identify the Detail record.

Student Identifiers

Student Current SSN (Record Identifier)

Student Date of Birth (Record Identifier)

Student Current First Name (Record Identifier)

Student Current Last Name

OPEID of Reporting School

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Figure 7-65: Student Identifiers
•

Student Designator—Schools that do not use the student SSN to identify
student registration records may enter the identifier in the Student Designator
field provided in the Detail record. NSLDS will not remove or change the Student
Designator, so it may be used in later Enrollment Reporting Roster files to match
records easily. You must not change the SSN provided by NSLDS.

•

Enrollment-Related Fields—Each Detail record in the Enrollment Reporting
Roster file includes three enrollment-related fields: Anticipated Completion Date
(ACD), code for Enrollment Status (ES), and Enrollment Effective Date. These fields
must be reviewed for each record on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file and
updated with any change. The list of valid Enrollment Status Codes can be found
in Appendix C.

Adding Students to the Roster
If you are aware of students who should be on the Enrollment Reporting Roster file but
who are not, add detail records for each student to the Submittal File. If you use an
Enrollment Reporting Servicer, you will need to work with it to have students added to
your Roster who should be there.
•

Pseudo SSN—Sometimes the Student SSN contains a pseudo-SSN constructed
by the data provider in the absence of the real SSN. This may be found in older
student loans, which were made before Congress required an official SSN on loan
applications. A pseudo-SSN is indicated by a P in the Student’s Social Security
Number Pseudo Indicator field. If a match is found between other NSLDS student
identifiers and a student enrollment record, and the real SSN is known, contact
your data provider. Your data provider will confirm that the NSLDS record and
the school record are for the same student. Conflicts in SSN identifiers can be
reported to the NSLDS CSC by calling 1-800-999-8219.

•

Withdrawn or Graduated Students—Students who have graduated or
withdrawn stay on the Enrollment Reporting Roster until their enrollments are
certified a second time with the same status.

It is imperative that the student identifiers in the added records match the student
identifiers on NSLDS. Students cannot be added to NSLDS unless the student exists on
the database. If a data provider has not reported a loan or grant to NSLDS and the
school tries to add the record in a batch process, the student record will be rejected on
the Submittal File or Error Correction File.
Schools can also elect to have students submitted to NSLDS for Transfer Student
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Monitoring, Financial Aid History, or both added to their Enrollment Roster
automatically. The Roster Options, found on the Organization Profile page of the ORG
tab, displays whether your school has selected to have students added to your
Enrollment Roster via TSM, FAH, or both.
•

TSM – Indicates if the school has elected to have students submitted for Transfer
Student Monitoring (TSM) added to the Enrollment Roster at the eight-digit
OPEID level, specific to the location associated with the user making the update.

•

FAH – Indicates if the school has elected to have students submitted for Financial
Aid History (FAH) added to the Enrollment Roster at the eight-digit OPEID level
specific to the location associated with the user making the update.

•

All Branches – Indicates if the school has elected to have students which have
been submitted for TSM and/or FAH added to the Enrollment Roster for all
locations with the same six-digit OPEID. If not checked, the choices will only
apply to the eight-digit location associated with the user.

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Figure 7-66: Roster Options

Processing Enrollment Rosters
This section explains the following in detail:
•

How to receive your Enrollment Reporting Roster file from NSLDS.

•

What to expect in the Error/Acknowledgment File you receive back from
NSLDS.

•

How to build an Error Correction File in response to the
Error/Acknowledgment File.

If your school uses an Enrollment Reporting Servicer, you must make sure that the
servicer has the latest student enrollment information.
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The accuracy of Title IV student loan records depends heavily on the accuracy of the
data that your school reports. NSLDS records must be accurately matched with your
enrollment records. You should review, update, or verify student enrollment statuses
and other information with information that appears on the Enrollment Reporting
Roster file.
Remember, the Department considers the school the source of enrollment data, not the
data providers. Once you certify an enrollment record you become the authority of that
enrollment status. It is your responsibility to continue to provide certification of
enrollment on all students on your Roster. You should correct any errors in reporting
that were identified by NSLDS. If the student has existing enrollment in NSLDS and there
is an error, the enrollment will not be updated; and if there is no existing enrollment
information, no new enrollment information will be added.
Your Enrollment Reporting Roster will include borrowers with enrollment statuses of ‘F’
(full-time), ‘Q’ (three-quarter time), ‘H’ (half-time), ‘L’ (less than half-time), ‘A’ (leave of
absence), ‘G’ (graduated), ‘W’ (withdrawn), ‘X’ (never attended), ‘Z’ (no record found), or
‘D’ (deceased).
A student with an enrollment status of ‘X’, ‘Z’, ‘W’, ‘G’ or ‘D’ will not be removed from
the Enrollment Reporting Roster until two consecutive certifications of the same status
are received, however, a program will drop from the Roster after a single reporting of X,
Z, G or W.

Receiving the Enrollment Reporting Roster File
Based on the Enrollment Reporting Schedule set up by the school and the school
portfolio preferences, NSLDS prepares an Enrollment Reporting Roster file for your
school. This Enrollment Reporting Roster contains a portfolio of students identified as
Title IV aid recipients that may be new to your school, previously reported as attending
your school, recently graduated, or withdrawn.
Enrollment Reporting Rosters are received as follows:
•

Electronically to the school—Users login to SAIG to receive the Enrollment
Reporting Roster file in an electronic mailbox.

•

Electronically to an Enrollment Reporting Servicer—Schools using a servicer
will not receive the Enrollment Reporting Roster file. The Enrollment Reporting
Roster file is sent directly to the servicer.

Preparing the Received Roster
This Enrollment Reporting Roster contains students attending your school, recently
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graduated, or withdrawn. You can compare a printed copy of the Enrollment Reporting
Roster file contents against your registration records, but to do this, you will have to
convert the Enrollment Reporting Roster file into a printable format. The most efficient
method for comparing records is to use an automated matching process. Your
information technology (IT) department or Enrollment Reporting Servicer has or can
develop software to match the records, and then you need to review manually only
unmatched records.
It is imperative that the student identifiers in the added records match the student
identifiers on NSLDS. Students cannot be added to NSLDS unless current aid is on the
database. If a data provider has not reported a loan to NSLDS or COD has not reported
a grant and the school tries to add the record in a batch process, the student record will
be rejected on the Submittal File or Error Correction File.

Matching Student Records
After receiving the Enrollment Reporting Roster file, you must match the Detail records
in that file to the student records in your registration system or other system that
maintains current enrollment information. During the matching process, you must be
certain that you have a legitimate match. One or more of the student identifiers
provided by NSLDS may differ from the information in your school records.
If you are sure your data are correct (based on the reliable source of your data or
documentation on file) you must contact the data provider and work with them to make
changes. If you cannot resolve the discrepancy with the data provider, you may contact
the NSLDS CSC at 1-800-999-8219, Option 3. You will need to provide copies of certain
legal documents to make changes.
Enrollment Reporting Roster files received by electronic transmission through SAIG can
be processed on a PC. The Comma Separated Value (CSV) file type allows a school to
easily download the data into a spreadsheet software tool or database software tool, or
perhaps a system of the school’s creation. You can then update the student status and
create a file for submission using SAIG or upload using the NSLDSFAP Enrollment
Spreadsheet Submittal Web page.

Updating Student Information
For each matching record, you must either confirm that the current enrollment provided
by NSLDS in the Enrollment Roster is still valid, or update the enrollment status to the
correct value according to the codes in Appendix C. When updating the enrollment
status, the enrollment status effective date (ESED) must also be updated to correspond
to any change. If the status is correct but the ESED is not, you may correct the ESED
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without a change of status. The ESED is critical for maintaining student loan records and
repayment schedules properly, and therefore, must be reported accurately.
•

Pseudo SSN—Sometimes the Student SSN contains a pseudo SSN constructed
by the data provider in the absence of the real SSN. This may be found in older
student loans, which were made before Congress required an official SSN on loan
applications. Usually, a pseudo-SSN is indicated by a P in the Student’s Social
Security Number Pseudo Indicator field. If a match is found between other NSLDS
student identifiers and a student enrollment record and the real SSN is known,
contact your data provider. Your data provider will confirm that the NSLDS record
and the school record are for the same student. Conflicts in SSN identifiers can be
reported to the NSLDS CSC by calling 1-800-999-8219.

•

Withdrawn or Graduated Students—Students who have graduated or
withdrawn stay on the Enrollment Reporting Roster until two consecutive
certifications of the same status are received.

•

Program-Level data—Program-Level information in record type 002 must be
submitted for every student in your Roster, as applicable. A program will drop
from the Roster after a single reporting of X, Z, G or W.

•

Program Identifier Changes—Program Identifier Change data in record type
004 may be submitted when a change or correction to the reported value in any
of the program identifiers needed. All records in a bundle must have the same
values for Student Current SSN and OPEID and all identifiers for the Current
Program as well as the New Program must be provided.

Returning the Reporting Roster File as the Submittal File
After all enrollment records are validated as correct or updated appropriately, the
Submittal File is returned to NSLDS via SAIG through the correct message class for the
file type you are using.

Submittal File Processing
After receiving the Submittal File, NSLDS edits the file. Detail records that pass all edits
are accepted and processed through the remaining steps and updates are applied to
NSLDS.
You have up to 10 days to correct the errors. This may be done online or by returning
the file as the Error Correction File. Error correction includes updating the information in
error so it will pass the edits and be processed by NSLDS. Simply resending the same
erroneous data does not meet the requirement to correct errors. Records that have
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been returned to the school in an Acknowledgment/ Error File are not added to the
NSLDS database unless the error is corrected, and the record returned to NSLDS.
Note: If you have not received an Error/Acknowledgment File within 48 hours of
transmitting your Submittal File, you should contact the NSLDS CSC at 1-800-999-8219.
NSLDS does not send a notification if the full Submittal File fails. No news is not good
news. It is your responsibility to be sure your file is received and processed.

Error Notification and Correction
Detail records that fail with one or more edits are returned in the
Error/Acknowledgment file. Each Detail record returned has error code(s) appended to
the end of the record explaining the rejection. Except for appended error codes, the
Error/Acknowledgment File have the same format as the Enrollment Reporting Roster
file, but it only contains those records that have an error. Error Codes, Error Messages,
and their application can be found in Appendix D. After NSLDS receives and processes
the file, you will receive one of the following:
•

An Error/Acknowledgment File that contains no error Detail records—It is an
acknowledgment that the Detail records in the Submittal File contained no errors
and were added to the database.

•

An Error/Acknowledgment File with error records—It will contain the Detail
records that could not be processed and the applicable error codes.

Note: The Trailer record of the Error/Acknowledgment File contains the total number of
Detail records received, the total number of accepted records, and the total number of
rejected records.
This file serves as the acknowledgment that NSLDS has received and processed the
Submittal File. You should retain a copy of the Error/Acknowledgment File for audit
purposes.
If you received an Error/Acknowledgment File containing Detail records with errors, you
must correct the errors and return the file as the Error Correction File within 10 days.
You should build and return the Error Correction File the same way you built and
returned the submittal file. Refer to the appropriate File record layout specifications in
Appendix A for formatting differences. The error codes are provided at the end of each
Detail record.
If you have not received an Error/Acknowledgment File within 48 hours of transmitting a
submittal or correction file, you should call the NSLDS CSC at 1-800-999-8219.

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Ad Hoc Reporting
It is important to report Enrollment status changes to NSLDS as soon as possible after
they occur. You can fulfill this requirement by Ad Hoc reporting. Ad Hoc reporting may
be done by requesting a file from NSLDS or by creating your own Submittal File.
•

You can request a previously unscheduled Roster file by requesting an Ad Hoc
Roster using the Enrollment Reporting Profile page on the NSLDSFAP website
under the Enroll tab. The ad hoc file is created the next processing day and will
be sent via SAIG. It may be updated and returned as a Submittal File through
SAIG.

•

You can also submit an unscheduled Submittal File (Ad Hoc) containing detail for
enrollment status changes (created on a PC or mainframe). The file is created
using the file layout type of your choice for a Submittal File.

You can also fulfill the requirement of notifying NSLDS of the enrollment change by
going online and updating the individual students who have had a change.
Note: National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) is now able to make Ad Hoc Roster
requests on behalf of the school they service. These requests will display “National
Student Clearinghouse Request” in the Purpose field under the Future or Past Schedule
section.

7.14 Common Reporting Errors
Below are the most common reporting errors and guidance on how to correct them.

Improper reporting of Program Enrollment
Effective Date
The Program Effective Date is the date when the student's current program status first
took effect. If the enrollment status has not changed, do not change this date.
Additionally, the date must be prior to the Certification Date.
Example: Figure 7-72: Improper Reporting of Program Enrollment Effective Date shows a
new Program Enrollment Effective Date at the start of a new term.

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Figure 7-67: Improper Reporting of Program Enrollment Effective Date

Improper Reporting of the “Move To”
When using the NSLDS Enrollment Roster, or the NSLDS website to “Move” a student to
a new location within the school, both locations must share the same Enrollment
Administrator as indicated in the Enrollment Reporting Profile. Initially, all schools are
set up to serve as their own administrator. To assign or change an administrator, go on
the Enrollment Reporting Profile page of the NSLDSFAP website.

Figure 7-68: Improper Reporting of the “Move To”

Improper Reporting of Published Program Length
(PPL)
For traditional programs, the Published Program Length (PPL) should usually be
reported in Years instead of Months. The following are considered traditional programs:
o

Associate’s Degree (credential level ‘02’) = 2 years

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Bachelor’s Degree (credential level ‘03’) = 4 years

After a program is reported, NSLDS converts any lengths reported in weeks or months
to years, with a formula using the Weeks in Title IV Academic Year. Improper reporting
of months instead of years causes the calculated Published Program Length in Years to
be too long, negatively affecting the student’s Maximum Eligibility Period (MEP).
Example: Figure 7-75: Improper reporting of Published Program Length shows a
misreported four-year program, where the PPL was reported as 48 months, causing the
Published Program Length in Years to be calculated as 6.4 Years, instead of 6 years.
The Enrollment History Update Page on the NSLDS Professional Access website can be
used to report Program Identifier Changes. For more details on updating identifier
information see section 7.9.5.

Figure 7-69: Improper reporting of Published Program Length

Improper Reporting of Program Begin Date
The Program Begin Date is the date on which the student began attending the program.
This date should not change based on a new term or interruption in enrollment at the
same school location. Additionally, NSLDS will use COD's Payment Period Begin Date
as the Program Begin Date for the first program data reported to NSLDS by COD.
Schools must verify and correct Program Begin Date as needed. COD data will never
replace school certified data.

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Figure 7-70: Data Collection – COD vs NSLDS

Improper Enrollment History Corrections
A school cannot report an Enrollment Status of ‘X’ or ‘Z’ if an enrollment history
(Enrollment Status Code of ‘F’, ‘Q’, ‘H’, ‘A’, or ‘L’) already exists for the student at that
school.
If the prior status was incorrectly reported, report the X or Z with an Effective Date that
is earlier than the earliest date of the prior reported status on the Enrollment
Maintenance page. This will inactivate the prior status.

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Figure 7-71: Correcting Enrollment History

Updating NSLDS without Updating your
Enrollment Reporting Servicer
School-reported data and the servicer-reported data must stay in sync. It is very
important that the data reported to NSLDS is also the same data reported to the
servicer. If the data is not also reported to the servicer after being reported to NSLDS,
the school-reported data could be overwritten when the servicer responds to
Enrollment Reporting Roster files.
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7.15 Ways to Improve Enrollment Reporting
Below is guidance on how schools can improve their reporting of enrollment data.
•

Correct and return errors in the Acknowledgement/Error File to NSLDS.
o

•

•

Certify ALL students on the Enrollment Roster at least every 60 days, with
program data (if applicable), even if no change in status.

Ensure the correct enrollment status is reported at both the Campus-Level and
Program-Level
Utilize online tools and reports available on the NSLDSFAP website:
o

In the Enrollment Update page:




o

Search for students on the Roster in a ‘W’ (withdrawn) or ‘G’
(graduated) enrollment status and certify those students for the
second time. The second certification will remove them from the
Roster.
Search for any students without programs by selecting the “Exclude
Students with Certified Programs” box and add programs, if
needed.

In the Enrollment Maintenance page:


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Search for any students that have not been certified in over 60 days
by selecting “Certification Date” in the Retrieve/Sort By option.
Once the students have been identified, certify them.

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Chapter 7 Key Points to Remember
 Schools have the ability to report enrollment data to NSLDS by batch or online
submission. You can report enrollment data online by using the Online Update
function or by submitting a spreadsheet with your school’s enrollment data.
 The Primary Destination Point Administrator (PDPA) for the organization must
complete the application for the batch process and request online access with
enrollment update functionality on fsawebenroll.ed.gov.
 Each school is required to have at least an Enrollment Reporting Contact and a
Primary Contact on the NSLDSFAP website for communications from NSLDS.
 The Enrollment Summary page provides an overview of a student’s most recent
status at every school where enrollment has been reported for that student.
 The Enrollment Detail page gives the full details of a student’s enrollment
information at each school attended as reported to NSLDS.
 The Program Enrollment Detail page gives the full details of a student’s
program enrollment information at each school attended as reported to
NSLDS.
 The Enrollment Timeline page displays a chronology of a student’s enrollment
status and allows users to check a student’s status at a particular point in time
to see what status was in effect for that period.
 The Maximum Eligibility Timeline page displays a chronology of a student’s
enrollment status and allows users to check a student’s status at a particular
point in time to see what status was in effect for that period.
 The Enrollment History Update page allows schools to add, modify, or
inactivate enrollment history data at both the Program- and Campus-level, as
well as, make program identifier changes.
 NSLDS transmits the Enrollment Reporting Roster file to your SAIG electronic
mailbox on the Enrollment Reporting Schedule created by your school.
 The Published Program Length (PPL) for traditional programs should usually be
reported in Years instead of Months or Weeks.

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Monitoring of Reporting Compliance
NSLDS provides various online tools and reports for the school to monitor the
certification records that have been provided to NSLDS by the school or by its servicer.
This chapter describes these tools, web pages, and reports.

8.1 Enrollment Reporting Statistics
NSLDS calculates Enrollment Reporting Statistics to monitor school compliance with
enrollment reporting requirements, including the reporting of Program Enrollment
information. Enrollment Reporting Statistics are calculated for each location, as
determined by the 8-digit OPEID code at the location/branch level, for all schools that
are set up for enrollment reporting. All enrollment reporting is done at the location
level to indicate where the student is physically attending.
The Enrollment Reporting Statistic is calculated as the percentage of students who are
on the enrollment Roster for a location as of the Start Date who were also reported with
Program Enrollment between the Start Date and the Evaluation Date.
Additionally, Enrollment Reporting Statistics monitors whether a school has reported
programs with a 2020 CIP Year for the students on its Enrollment Reporting Roster.
NSLDS determines Programs Certified with Active Enrollment, Programs Certified with
2020 CIP Year, and Percent Program Certified with 2020 CIP Year by calculating the total
number of programs certified with active enrollment (enrollment statuses of ‘F’, ‘Q’, ‘H’,
‘L’, and ‘A’) on the Start Date and number of programs certified, at least once, with
active enrollment, where CIP Year was 2020, within the current evaluation period.
Statistics are calculated during the third week of every month. The Start Date is set at
135 days prior to the Evaluation Date for each month’s calculation. This is done so
schools have plenty of time to certify program enrollment for any students who are
added to the Roster.
Reporting of enrollment records with a Campus-Level Enrollment effective date more
than ten years in the past or an enrollment status of W (Withdrawn), G (Graduated), D
(Deceased), X (Never Attended), or Z (Record Not Found) with no corresponding
Program-Level data will not negatively impact a school’s Enrollment Reporting Statistics.
However, schools should close out any outstanding X and Z status records on their
Rosters by certifying these records a second time, after which these records will no
longer appear on the Roster.
NSLDS sets a minimum threshold percentage for reporting of Program Enrollment, and
sends a series of escalating compliance notices via email to schools that fall below this
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percentage. Schools who have a larger percentage of students on the Roster that are
actually not enrolled in any Program (for example, continuing education students) may
request an exception to have a lower minimum percentage approved by contacting
[email protected]. See Section 8.1.3 for more information.

Enrollment Reporting Statistics Page
The Enrollment Reporting Statistics page displays information about the extent and
quality of the enrollment reporting provided by schools participating in the federal
student aid programs. School users can view the previous year's enrollment reporting
statistics for their school or for any of their school's locations. Additionally, the page will
display histories of Compliance and Late Roster Notifications. The Enrollment Reporting
Statistics process each month looks back 135 days from the Evaluation Date, and
evaluates only students who were on the school’s Roster as of the Start Date (135 days
prior to Evaluation Date). Therefore, it may take multiple cycles for improvement to be
reflected in the ‘Percent Certified with Program Enrollment’ column.
If a school has been approved for an exception to the minimum Enrollment Reporting
Statistics percentage, the Enrollment Reporting Threshold Override History button
will display and allow the user to view the exception information.
To Access the Enrollment Reporting Statistics, select the Enrollment Reporting Statistics
button at the top of the Enrollment Reporting Profile Page.
The warning and informational icons at the top of the page reflect the status of the
enrollment statistics for the particular school or school location selected.
Warning icons:
•

•

•

Percent Certified—The most recent Percent Certified with Program Enrollment
value for the school (school location) falls beneath the applicable threshold.
Percent 2020 CIP Year—The most recent Percent Programs Certified with 2020
CIP Year value for the school (school location) falls beneath the minimum
threshold.
Late Roster—The most recent Roster for the school (one or more locations at the
school) has not been returned and is late.

Informational icons:
•

Certification Statistics—There are no certification statistics for the school (school
location) for the past year.

•

Compliance Notification
o The display options in effect returned more Compliance Notification letters

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than appear on the page.
o The display options in effect did not return any Compliance Notification
letters.
•

Late Roster Notification
o The school (school location) has received more Late Roster Notification letters
in the past six months than appear on the page.
o The school (school location) has not received any Late Roster Notifications
letters in the past six months.

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Figure 8-1: Enrollment Reporting Statistics
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Certification Statistics
The Certification Statistics for School / Location section displays information about the
extent and quality of the enrollment reporting provided by schools participating in the
federal student aid programs. The page will display Certification Statistics for the past
year. Supplemental submittals are not reflected in the counts of Roster Records
Returned or Roster Records in Error Returned and are excluded from the Roster Error
Percent calculation. The section displays the following information, definitions of these
fields can also be found in the Enrollment Reporting Statistics Help page:
•

Start Date—The begin date for the evaluation period that produced the row
of data. This date is 135 days prior to the Evaluation Date.

•

Evaluation Date—The date on which the period under evaluation ended and
the evaluation itself was performed.

•

Students in Portfolio—The number of students participating in the school or
school location's portfolio on the Start Date.

•

Students Cert.—The number of students participating in the school or school
location's portfolio at the Start Date who were certified at least once by the
Evaluation Date.

•

Students Cert. With Prog. Enroll.—The number of students participating in
the school or school location's portfolio at the Start Date who were certified
at least once with program enrollment by the Evaluation Date.

•

Percent Stu. Cert.—The percentage of students in the school or school
location's portfolio successfully certified during the evaluation period.

•

Percent Stu. Cert. With Prog. Enroll.—The percentage of students in the
school or school location's portfolio successfully certified with program
enrollment during the evaluation period.

•

Prog. Cert. With Active Enroll.—The number of programs certified with
active Program Enrollment Status of 'F', 'Q', 'H', 'L', and 'A' for the evaluation
period, regardless of CIP Year.

•

Prog. Cert. With 2020 CIP Year—The number of programs certified with
active Program Enrollment in CIP Year 2020 for the evaluation period.

•

Percent Prog. Cert. with 2020 CIP Year—The percentage of programs
certified with active enrollment for the evaluation period that have a 2020 CIP
Year.

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•

Roster Records Returned—The number of records that were processed by
NSLDS for a specific school or school location's portfolio between the Start
Date and Evaluation Date.

•

Roster Records in Error Returned—The number of records containing errors
that were processed by NSLDS for a specific school or school location's
portfolio between the Start Date and Evaluation Date.

•

Roster Error Percent—The ratio of records in error to records returned
expressed as a percentage.

As a reminder, schools are expected to report enrollment for all students on the Roster, and
to report program data for all programs in which a student is enrolled. The Enrollment
Statistics Report is available to schools and is discussed in detail in Section 8.5.1.

Figure 8-2: Certification Statistics for Location

Enrollment Reporting Compliance Notifications
NSLDS tracks whether a school is reporting Program-Level enrollment information
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about enough of its students, currently set at 90% of students on the Roster. When
NSLDS determines that an insufficient number of students have enrollment reported
about them, it will begin to send letters to the school. If after two warnings, the
reporting performance does not improve, the school is referred to Program Compliance.
The letter sequence is as follows:
•

First Warning Letter

•

Second Warning Letter

•

Program Compliance Referral Letter

NSLDS also tracks whether a school has reported an insufficient number of programs
with a 2020 CIP Year on its Enrollment Reporting Roster. NSLDS determines Programs
Certified with Active Enrollment, Programs Certified with 2020 CIP Year, and
Percent Program Certified with 2020 CIP Year by calculating the total number of
programs certified with active enrollment (enrollment statuses of ‘F’, ‘Q’, ‘H’, ‘L’, and ‘A’)
on the Start Date and number of programs certified, at least once, with active
enrollment, where CIP Year was 2020, within the current evaluation period.
When NSLDS determines that an insufficient number of programs with a 2020 CIP Year
for the students, it will send a 2020 CIP Code Compliance Letter to the school. Schools
are encouraged to refer to the NCES website for a full listing of 2020 CIP Codes and take
the necessary action to ensure that 2020 CIP Year programs are reported for all currently
enrolled students. Additionally, the Enrollment Reporting Deleted CIP Code Report
(SCHDC1) assists schools in determining which students have programs with deleted CIP
codes for the CIP Year 2020.
The Enrollment Reporting Statistics page contains an Enrollment Compliance
Notification History section. This section displays information about compliance letters
sent to an individual school location or all the locations at the school.
Schools can view the Enrollment Reporting Compliance Notification History section on
the Enrollment Reporting Statistics page, which displays information about compliance
letters sent to an individual school location (location view) or all the locations at the
school (school view). The page will display up to 100 Compliance Notifications. The
Enrollment Reporting Compliance Report is also available to school users and is
discussed in detail in Section 8.5.2. Schools can also view a PDF copy of the letter that
was sent to them by clicking the View Letter button.

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Figure 8-3: Enrollment Reporting Compliance Notifications History
If, after the school receives its initial notification, it believes that a significant percentage
of its students are legitimately not enrolled in an academic program and are therefore
properly reported only at the campus level and not at the program level, the school
should send an email requesting an Enrollment Reporting Compliance Notification
Exception. The email should be sent to [email protected].

8.2 Late Roster Notification
Once NSLDS creates an Enrollment Reporting Roster file and sends it to a school, that
school has 15 days from the date the Enrollment Reporting Roster file was sent to return
a Submittal File to NSLDS or complete the updates online. Any school that fails to return
a Submittal File or make updates online within the 15-day period is considered to be
late in responding. NSLDS will produce an email notification to remind schools of their
obligation to complete and return the enrollment reporting file within 15 days of receipt
to NSLDS.
Note that all schools, including those that report online, have a Roster schedule and
must report within 15 days of the scheduled Roster date. Schools reporting online
should adjust their schedule to match their online reporting schedule.
Schools can view a history of their late Roster reporting by viewing the Late Roster
Notification History section on the Enrollment Reporting Statistics page, which displays
information about late Roster letters sent to an individual school location (School
Location is selected under Display Statistics For) or all the locations at the school (School
is selected under Display Statistics For) during the previous six months. The section
displays the following information:
•

OPEID—The eight-digit Office of Postsecondary Education ID of the school
location that received the late Roster notification (school-level summary only).

•

Roster Date—The date on which NSLDS sent a new enrollment Roster to the
school.

•

Letter Date—The date on which NSLDS sent a letter to the school informing it

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that it had not responded in a timely fashion to the most recent roster sent by
NSLDS.

8.3 Enrollment Submittal Tracking
The Enrollment Submittal Tracking page is an online page that displays information
about batch enrollment Rosters and submittals by schools and school locations, and
online enrollment reporting activity. Schools will be able to track enrollment
submissions for Rosters (batch files sent from NSLDS to the school/servicer), Submittals
(batch files sent from the school/servicer to NSLDS), Supplemental (batch files sent
outside the roster schedule from the school/servicer to NSLDS), and Web (includes both
online Enrollment Maintenance and Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal). Note that if the
school uses an enrollment servicer, the File-Level Information total records count may
include records sent by the school’s servicer for other schools.
Select the Enrollment Submittal Tracking button at the top of the Enrollment Reporting
Profile Page.

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Figure 8-4: Enrollment Submittal Tracking
The Display Options allow you to filter the enrollment submittal data displayed on the
page. The following Display Options are available:
•

•

•

•

School Code-Identifies the six-digit Office of Postsecondary Education
Identification number (OPEID) for the school.
School Location Code-Allows you to select an individual school location for
viewing.
Organization Level-Allows you to view enrollment submittal for the school as a
whole or for a specific school location.
File Types-Allows you to view the enrollment submittal for a specific type.
o

Roster-NSLDS generated and sent an Enrollment Reporting file to the
school.

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o

Submittal-The school submitted a file through the batch enrollment
reporting process.

o

Supplemental-The school submitted a supplemental file through the batch
enrollment reporting process outside of their regular roster schedule.

o

•

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Web-The school certified the enrollment information using the Enrollment
Maintenance page or the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal page on this
site.

Date Processed Begin / End-Allow you to retrieve enrollment submittals for a
specified date range.

After selecting the desired options, click the Apply button to display the Submittal
Details.
The Submittal Details displays the following information:
File-level information:
•

Date Sent / Received-For batch files, the date NSLDS sent an outgoing file or
received an incoming file. For Web submittals, the date NSLDS received the
submittal.

•

Date Processed-The date on which NSLDS completely processed the batch file
or web submittal.

•

Type-The Enrollment Roster or submittal type.
o Roster-NSLDS sent a batch Enrollment Reporting Roster to the school.

o Submittal-NSLDS received a batch Enrollment Reporting submittal from
the school.
o Supplemental-NSLDS received a batch supplemental file from the school
outside of their regular roster schedule.
o Web-The school submitted enrollment information using the Enrollment
Maintenance page or the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal page on this
site.
•

Total Records-The total number of records contained in the file, including
headers and footers.

•

SAIG Mailbox-The Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox the file was sent
to or received from.

School information:
•

OPEID-The eight-digit Office of Postsecondary Education Identification number
(OPEID) associated with the detail records.

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•

Total Bundles-The total number of record bundles for that school location
included in the file. A bundle is a set of records (Campus, Program(s) and Email)
for one individual student.

•

Valid Bundles-The total number of valid record bundles for that school location
included in the file.

•

Bundles in Error-The total number of bundles with errors for that school location
included in the file.

•

Percent Valid-Valid Bundles divided by Total Bundles.

•

Campus Records-The total number of Campus-Level Records for that school
location included in the file.

•

Program Records-The total number of Program-Level Records for that school
location included in the file.

•

Email Records-The total number of Email-Level Records for that school location
included in the file.

•

Unique Borrowers-The total number of unique borrowers for that school
location included in the file.

Note: The counts of Valid Bundles, Bundles in Error, Percent Valid, Campus Records,
Program Records, Email Records and Unique Borrowers are not produced for
Supplemental submittal files.

8.4 Enrollment Certification by Quarter
The Enrollment Certification by Quarter is an online page that displays a quarterly count
by enrollment status of certified enrollments received by NSLDS during the four most
recent calendar quarters. At the end of each quarter (March 31, June 30, September 30,
and December 31), NSLDS evaluates the last enrollment status reported per student that
updated NSLDS during that quarter. The school might reference this report to evaluate
the pattern of enrollment reporting during various quarters or to compare to records
the school has at the end of a specific quarter.
Select the Certification by Quarter button at the top of the Enrollment Reporting
Profile Page. This will display a report page that lists a count of the certifications
received by enrollment status during the prior quarters. Note that the count is based on
when NSLDS received the certification, not by the certification date.

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Figure 8-5: Enrollment Certification by Quarter

8.5 Enrollment Reporting User Reports
NSLDS provides several reports for schools to manage their enrollment reporting
portfolios. Users are encouraged to run reports on a regular basis to track their
Enrollment Reporting Statistics, enrollment certifications, and errors. These reports are
discussed in detail in the following subsections.

Enrollment Statistics Report
The Enrollment Statistics Report (ENLST1) is an MS ExcelTM format report, which is
displayed on-demand in a browser window. The report provides Enrollment Statistics for
the school code or school location code associated with the user's ID. The report
includes information about completeness and quality of the enrollment reporting
provided by schools participating in the federal student aid program. The report will
contain the same information that is displayed on the Enrollment Reporting Statistics
page. Users may choose to receive all the data associated with the six-digit OPEID in the
School Code field or specify a specific school location code by entering the eight-digit
OPEID in the School Location Code field.
From the Web Report List, under the Report tab, select the ENLST1, Enrollment Statistics
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Report. On the Report Parameters page, selecting the summary level allows the user to
receive the data at either the School Code (six-digit OPEID) summary level or the School
Location Code (eight-digit OPEID) detail level. The user selects the Evaluation Date End
and the Prior Weeks in Range, and all statistics within the range will be included for the
selected school location(s) in the report.

Figure 8-6: Enrollment Statistics Report

Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup Detail
Report
The Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup Detail Report (SCHCB1/SCHCB3) allows
school users to request an extract that lists students included in calculations for the
current Enrollment Reporting Statistics. Each student on the report was included in the
denominator of the Percent Certified with Program Enrollment calculation, and the
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report identifies students who were included in that calculation numerator, meaning
that they were successfully certified with program enrollment during the evaluation
period. The report also identifies students who were included in the numerator due to
ED-approved exceptions. The user may choose to receive all data associated with their
school by leaving the asterisk (*) in the School Location field, or only data for a single
location by entering the eight-digit OPEID for that location. The report output may be
sorted by SSN or Last/First Name, and formatted using Extract Type options of Standard
(Fixed width), sent in message class ERSBFWOP, or Comma Delimited, sent in message
class ERSBCDOP. The report is delivered in the corresponding message class to the
SAIG mailbox (TG number) associated with the FSA User ID that requested the report.
The Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup Detail Report can also be scheduled
(SCHCB3) for monthly distribution. The SCHCB3 contains all students at the six-digit
School Code or eight-digit School Location Code included in the most recently
calculated Enrollment Reporting Statistics.
The report is sent in fixed-width or comma separated values (CSV) format via the SAIG
to the mailbox designated under the Scheduled Reports section of the Organization
Profile page. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the Extract file is available in Appendix H.

Figure 8-7: Enrollment Reporting Statistics Backup Detail Report
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Enrollment Reporting Compliance Report
The Enrollment Reporting Compliance Report (SCHCR1) allows authorized school users
to view the distribution history of the Enrollment Reporting Compliance Letters and the
enrollment statistics content sent to schools. The report can be requested on the Report
tab of the NSLDSFAP website under Web Report List. Schools can request the report
based on the six-digit school code or on the eight-digit school location code. When
requesting the report, the user must indicate the Letter Sent On or After/On or Before
date range corresponds to the date the letter, or letters, were sent to the school. The
report output is displayed on-demand in a browser window using MS Excel format.

Figure 8-8: Enrollment Compliance Report

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Enrollment Reporting 2020 Invalid CIP Codes
Report
The Enrollment Reporting (ER) 2020 Invalid CIP Codes Report (SCHCP4) provides school
users with an extract of current students enrolled in a program with a CIP Year of 2000
or 2010. The report assists schools in determining which students have programs that
need to be updated to the equivalent CIP Year 2020. Users may refer to the NCES
website to obtain 2020 CIP Codes. The report can be requested for a six-digit School
Code or eight-digit School Location Code. The user may choose to receive all data
associated with their school by leaving the asterisk (*) in the School Location Code or
receive data for a single location by entering the eight-digit OPEID in the School
Location Code. The user can indicate whether to include students currently enrolled in
programs with CIP Year 2000 and/or 2010 that have equivalent 2020 CIP Year programs.
The report output is sorted by SSN and formatted using Extract Type options of FixedWidth, sent in message class OLCIPFOP, or Comma Delimited, sent in message class
OLCIPCOP. The report is delivered to the SAIG mailbox (TG number) associated with the
FSA User ID that requested the report. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the Extract file is
available in Appendix H.

Figure 8-9: Enrollment Reporting 2020 Invalid CIP Codes Report
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Enrollment Reporting Deleted CIP Code Report
The Enrollment Reporting (ER) Deleted CIP Code Report (SCHDC1) provides school users
with an extract of current students enrolled in a program with a CIP Year 2000 or 2010.
The report assists schools in determining which students have programs with deleted
CIP codes for the CIP Year 2020. Users may refer to the NCES website to obtain 2020 CIP
Codes. The report can be requested for a six-digit School Code or eight-digit School
Location Code. The user may choose to receive all data associated with their school by
leaving the asterisk (*) in the School Location Code or receive data for a single location
by entering the eight-digit OPEID in the School Location Code. The user can indicate
whether to include students currently enrolled in programs with a CIP Year 2000 and/or
2010 that do not have equivalent 2020 CIP Year programs.
The report output is sorted by SSN and formatted using Extract Type options of FixedWidth, sent in message class DLCIPFOP, or Comma Delimited, sent in message class
DLCIPCOP. The report is delivered to the SAIG mailbox (TG number) associated with the
FSA User ID that requested the report. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the Extract file is
available in Appendix H.

Figure 8-10: Enrollment Reporting Deleted CIP Code Report
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Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report
The NSLDS Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report (SCHET1) allows school users to
track enrollment submittal processing for school locations associated with their
administration group. The report can be requested on the Report tab for the entire
school (six-digit code) or for a single school location (eight-digit code). The enrollment
tracking information types that can be selected for inclusion in the report are: Rosters
(batch files sent from NSLDS to the school/servicer), Submittals (batch files sent from
the school/servicer to NSLDS), Supplemental (batch files sent outside the roster
schedule from the school/servicer to NSLDS), Web (includes both online Enrollment
Maintenance and Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal), and/or any combination of the
three. At least one type must be selected. The enrollment file tracking information
selected can be limited to a date range based on Date Processed. The report output is
displayed on-demand in a browser window using MS Excel format.

Figure 8-11: Enrollment Submittal File Tracking Report
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Enrollment Errors Report
The Enrollment Errors Report (SCHER5) provides schools with error/acknowledgment
information for each enrollment reporting batch submittal processed by NSLDS for a
six-digit School Code or an eight-digit School Location Code, within a specified
timeframe. This report can assist schools with monitoring errors generated by the
NSLDS enrollment reporting process (errors received as a result of enrollment reporting
by the school or by the school’s third-party servicer), allowing for the timely correction
and resubmittal of rejected records.
The Enrollment Errors Report can be requested under the Web Report List on the Report
tab or scheduled for regular delivery on the Organization Profile page on the Org tab of
the NSLDS Professional Access website. When requesting the report, the user indicates
the Processed on or Before date, which limits output to batch submittals that were
processed on or before that date. The Number of Months indicates the length of time,
prior to the Processed on or Before date, for which submittals will be included. The
Number of Months parameter can be set to any range between 1 and 12 months. The
report can be sorted by SSN or Last/First Name. The report output displays on-demand
in a browser window using Excel format. The report is also available in Fixed Width or
Comma Separated Values (CSV) format.
For Output Medium SAIG, the detail records are identical to the Enrollment Reporting
Roster file Record Layouts found in Appendix A-1 and A-2, with the following exception
in the Header Record:
•

The Header Label field uses the format “Report ID-Request Date-Processed Date”
as follows:
o Report ID contains ‘SCHER5’ for ad-hoc requests and ‘SCHER7’ for scheduled
reports.
o Request Date is the date the user requested the report or the date the report
was scheduled.
o Processed Date is the date NSLDS processed the batch submittal.

Details on specific errors can be found in Appendix D and E.

Note: Due to the way the data has been previously stored in NSLDS, the new report can
only provide data as of the report’s implementation date in NSLDS (November 20,
2016).

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Figure 8-12: Enrollment Errors Report

Enrollment Reporting Summary Report
The Enrollment Reporting Summary Report (SCHER1) provides enrollment reporting
events chronologically. The report provides information on when a Roster was sent, if
any late Roster notifications were generated, school updates, type of update (batch or
on the web), number of records (valid, error, total, transfer, correction), as well as the
date the report was generated. The SCHER1 is a preformatted report and therefore
does not have a file layout.

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Figure 8-13: Enrollment Reporting Summary Report

Enrollment Certification Report
The Enrollment Reporting Certification Report (SCHER4) is an extract of active students
in the school’s portfolio of students. The extract will contain the most recently certified
enrollment status code, status effective date, and the anticipated completion date (ACD)
as of the selected extract date. Additionally, NSLDS will provide the date on which each
of those fields was first applied to the database. Finally, the extract contains the most
recently received certification date for the enrollment data listed and calculates the
number of days between that certification date and the extract date.
The report is provided as an extract file and will be sent to the SAIG mailbox (TG
number) of the user that requested the report. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the
Extract file is available in Appendix H.

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Figure 8-14: Enrollment Reporting Certification Report

Enrollment Reporting Program-Level Certification
Report
The Enrollment Reporting (ER) Program-Level Certification Report (SCHER8) allows
school users to request certified historical Program-Level Enrollment data as of a date
specified by the user. The user indicates the Roster Activity Date, which limits output to
the date when students were active on the school’s Roster. This report can be requested
as an Ad-hoc through the school Report List on the Report tab of the NSLDS
Professional Access Website.
The report is provided as an extract file and will be sent to the SAIG mailbox (TG
number) of the user that requested the report. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the
Extract file is available in Appendix H.

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Figure 8-15: ER Program-Level Certification Report

NSLDS–COD Program Comparison Report
The NSLDS–COD Program Comparison Report (SCHE10) provides school users with a
comparison of NSLDS Program-Level Enrollment data to Common Origination and
Disbursement (COD) Program-Level data. This report can provide insight into cases
where the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system has reported similar
Program-Level data as the school but the Credential Level and/or Published Program
Length differ. The report can also identify when Program-Level data has been reported
by COD to NSLDS, but not certified by the school. Additionally, the report can include
any students for whom the school has reported conflicting Program-Level Enrollment
Data. This report can be requested as an Ad-hoc from the Web Report List under the
Report tab of the NSLDS Professional Access NSLDSFAP Website.
The NSLDS-COD Comparison Report will generate one or more details records when
conflicting Program-Level Enrollment data exists for a student. For example, when
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Program-Level Enrollment data has been reported by COD but not certified by the
school, there will only be one detail record for the student. When there is a conflict with
the Credential Level and/or Published Program Length between COD and school
certified data, there will be multiple detail records. Additionally, when the school has
reported conflicting Program-Level Enrollment data, there will be multiple detail records.
The differences can best be determined by assessing the following fields: CIP Code,
Credential Level, Published Program Length, and Reporting Source Type.
The report output is sorted by SSN and displays on-demand in a browser window using
Excel format. The report is also available via SAIG in Fixed Width or Comma Separated
Values (CSV) format. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the Extract file is available in
Appendix H.

Figure 8-16: NSLDS–COD Program Comparison Report
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Late Enrollment Certifications Report
The Late Enrollment Certifications report (SCHLC1) allows school users to request a list
of students who have not had an enrollment certification reported after a specified date.
The report, requested on the Report tab for an eight-digit School Location Code, may
be used to identify students that need to be certified. Schools can update the report and
submit it to NSLDS via the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) just like a regular Roster.
Schools may also request the CSV version of the report, import the report into a
spreadsheet, and submit the data to NSLDS using the Enrollment Spreadsheet Submittal
process on the NSLDS Professional Access Web site.
When requesting the report, the user must indicate the Not Reported After Date which
limits output to students who have not had certifications reported after that date. The
detail records are identical to the Enrollment Reporting Roster Layouts found in
Appendix A with the following exceptions:
•
•

Header Label will contain ‘SCHLC1’
Header record Submittal Date is the value entered as the ‘Not Reported After
Date’

Figure 8-17: Late Enrollment Certifications Report
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Enrollment Reporting No Certified Programs
Report
The Enrollment Reporting (ER) No Certified Programs Report (SCHEP1) provides School
users with an extract of students that have appeared on the school’s Enrollment
Reporting Roster without a certified program within a specified timeframe for a six-digit
School Code or eight-digit School Location Code. The ER No Certified Programs Report
will include the current campus-level enrollment information for the student. The user
will indicate the Certification Date Begin which limits output to students that have a
reported certification on or after the date entered through the date the report is
requested. Additionally, the report can be limited to a Social Security Number (SSN) and
Last Name range. The report can be sorted by Student SSN only, or School then,
Student SSN. The report is sent to the SAIG mailbox associated with the NSLDS User ID
requesting the report.
The ER No Certified Programs Report can also be scheduled (SCHEP3) for quarterly or
monthly distribution. The initial scheduled report will contain all students at the six-digit
School Code or eight-digit School Location Code without a certified program. Each
subsequent report will contain the students without certified programs that were
certified between the previous month’s or quarter’s report to the date when the report
is created. The scheduled report is sent to the SAIG mailbox designated under the
Scheduled Reports section of the Organization Profile page, under the ORG tab.

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Figure 8-18: Enrollment Reporting No Certified Programs Report

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Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn
Campus Report
The Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Campus Report (SCHEC1/SCHEC3)
provides school users with an extract of all students certified with a campus enrollment
status of Graduated and/or Withdrawn within a specified timeframe. The report can be
requested for a six-digit School Code or eight-digit School Location Code. After
selecting a Status Effective Date Begin range, the user may select the campus enrollment
status of Graduated, Withdrawn, or Both. Additionally, the report may be sorted by
Student SSN only or by School Code then Student SSN.
The Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Campus Report can also be scheduled
for quarterly or monthly distribution. The initial scheduled report contains all students at
the six-digit School Code or eight-digit School Location Code with a certified Graduated
and/or Withdrawn campus enrollment status. Each subsequent report will contain
students who graduated and/or withdrew since the last report was run. The report is
sent to the SAIG mailbox designated under the Scheduled Reports section of the
Organization Profile page.
The Ad-hoc (SCHEC1) and Scheduled (SCHEC3) reports are sent using message class
ERGCFWOP (fixed-width) or ERGCCDOP (CSV). The NSLDS Record Layouts for the
Extract file is available in Appendix H.

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Figure 8-19: Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Campus Report

Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn
Program Report
The Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Program Report (SCHEP4/SCHEP6)
provides School users with an extract of students and all certified programs with a
program enrollment status of Graduated and/or Withdrawn within a specified
timeframe. The report can be requested for a six-digit School Code or eight-digit School
Location Code. The user indicates the Program Status Effective Date Begin and Program
Status Effective Date End for the date range of the current program enrollment status of
Graduated, Withdrawn, or Both. Additionally, the report can be limited to a Social
Security Number (SSN) and Last Name range and may be sorted by Student SSN only or
School Code then, Student SSN. The Fixed Width report is sent to the SAIG mailbox
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associated with the FSA User ID requesting the report.
The Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Program Report can also be scheduled
(SCHEP6) for quarterly or monthly distribution. The initial scheduled report contains all
students at the six-digit School Code or eight-digit School Location Code with a
certified Graduated and/or Withdrawn program enrollment status. Each subsequent
report will contain students with Graduated and/or Withdrawn programs who were
certified from the previous run date to the date when the report is run. The Fixed Width
scheduled report is sent to the SAIG mailbox designated under the Scheduled Reports
section of the Organization Profile page. The NSLDS Record Layouts for the Extract file is
available in Appendix H.

Figure 8-20: Enrollment Reporting Graduated/Withdrawn Program Report
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Enrollment History Report
The Enrollment History Report (SCHHS1) provides school users with an extract of all
school certified active campus and program enrollment history at a given school or
location. The report can be requested for a six-digit School Code or eight-digit School
Location Code. The user may choose to receive all data associated with their school by
leaving the asterisk (*) in the School Location Code or receive data for a single location
by entering the eight-digit OPEID in the School Location Code. The report can be
limited to a Social Security Number (SSN) and Last Name range. The user can also
indicate a date range for Campus Effective Date and Program Effective Date for campus
and program enrollment history. Additionally, the user may choose to receive all
programs associated with their school by leaving the asterisk (*) in the CIP Code and
Credential Level fields, or limit output to a specific CIP Code and credential level. The
user may also indicate a specific length range for the Published Program Length in
Years.
The report output is sorted by SSN and formatted using Extract Type options of FixedWidth, sent in message class ERHISFOP, or Comma Delimited, sent in message class
ERHISCOP. The report is delivered to the SAIG mailbox (TG number) associated with the
FSA User ID that requested the report. The detail records are identical to the updated
Enrollment Reporting Roster Layouts. Please see the NSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide
for reporting and field details. The Enrollment Reporting Guide is available in the NSLDS
User Resources section on the Knowledge Center.

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Figure 8-21: Enrollment History Report

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Chapter 8 Key Points to Remember
 Enrollment Reporting Statistics are calculated to monitor school compliance
with enrollment reporting requirements.
 The Enrollment Reporting Statistics page displays information about the extent
and quality of the enrollment reporting provided by schools participating in the
federal student aid programs.
 Schools can view the Enrollment Compliance Notification and Late Roster
Notification History on the Enrollment Reporting Statistics page.
 The Enrollment Submittal Tracking page is an online page that displays
information about batch Enrollment Rosters and submittals by schools and
school locations, as well as, online enrollment reporting activity.
 The Certification by Quarter button at the top of the Enrollment Reporting
Profile Page displays a count of the certifications received by enrollment status
during the prior quarters.
 NSLDS provides several reports for schools to manage their enrollment
reporting portfolios.

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File Typeapplication/pdf
File TitleNSLDS Enrollment Reporting Guide
AuthorDolan, Oliver
File Modified2021-10-22
File Created2021-09-16

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